Ellis return leaves McNamara with welcome selection dilemma

However, none are likely to force their way into Steve McNamara’s match-day 17 given former Headingley colleague Gareth Ellis has also been passed fit and is set to reclaim his place.

If Wests Tigers’ second-row Ellis, who missed the New Zealand victory with a back injury, comes through today’s final training run without any reaction, he will definitely face the Australians leaving McNamara with a major selection dilemma of a positive sort.

The England chief kept his options open yesterday when naming a 21-man squad keeping faith with the 17 that overcame the Kiwis while adding Ellis and the Leeds trio.

Last week, Jon Wilkin was promoted from the bench to replace Ellis and duly impressed, as did Warrington Wolves prop Garreth Carvell, who came in on the bench for his first tournament appearance and made a decent impact.

Carvell seems the likeliest to miss out at Elland Road with McNamara likely to return to the same 17 that had featured throughout all the autumn internationals.

However, that would mean going with just three specialist props against Australia, a tactic which did not work fully when they lost to the Kangaroos at Wembley a fortnight ago amid injuries to Ellis, James Graham and Jamie Peacock.

McNamara may choose to go for an extra front-row option to meet the firepower of their opponents which could see loose-forward Chris Heighington’s position come under threat with Wilkin potentially switched to No 13 to facilitate Ellis’s return.

However, the England coach has been a fan of the Wests Tigers forward’s solidity in the middle and he may prefer to include Heighington for his sheer work-rate.

Australia will welcome back second-row Tony Williams from suspension, while coach Tim Sheens is expected to name Brisbane Broncos’ Jharal Yow Yeh as his new winger.

Darius Boyd has been switched to full-back to cover for the injured Billy Slater.

Boyd – who featured there in the win against Wales and is regular in that position for St George-Illawarra – insists he will not try to emulate the newly-crowned international player of the year.

“I really enjoyed it against Wales,” he added.

“Not having played full-back for a couple of weeks, I wanted to have a good hit-out before this week. Billy’s a class act, one of a kind. I suppose I have a different game to him.

“I’ll concentrate on myself and what I bring to the team.”