July 2 (Reuters) - Fin Smith has been given the nod at flyhalf and livewire back row Henry Pollock is on the bench in the England side named by coach Steve Borthwick on Thursday to face South Africa in their opening Nations Championship fixture in Johannesburg on Saturday.
• Hooker Jamie George will captain the side in place of the rested Maro Itoje.
• Fin Smith gets the number 10 jersey ahead of Marcus Smith, who is among the replacements in a 6-2 split between forwards and backs.
• Wing Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and fullback George Furbank return to the side in a back three that also includes Cadan Murley.
• Alex Coles and George Martin make up the lock pairing in Itoje's absence.
• "I sense a real excitement within the squad to get our Nations Championship campaign under way,” Borthwick said.
• Starting XV: 15-George Furbank, 14-Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, 13-Tommy Freeman, 12-Seb Atkinson, 11-Cadan Murley, 10-Fin Smith, 9-Jack van Poortvliet, 8-Ben Earl, 7-Tom Curry, 6-Ollie Chessum, 5-George Martin, 4-Alex Coles, 3-Joe Heyes, 2-Jamie George (captain), 1-Ellis Genge.
• Replacements: 16-Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17-Beno Obano, 18-Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 19-Charlie Ewels, 20-Guy Pepper, 21-Henry Pollock, 22-Alex Mitchell, 23-Marcus Smith.
(Reporting by Nick Said; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
