by Our Sports Desk

STUART LANCASTER admitted yesterday that his England tenure hinges on defeating Australia tomorrow in the must-win clash at Twickenham.

Lancaster named Jonathan Joseph at outside centre and demoted Sam Burgess to the bench. A defeat will knock the hosts out of the competition at the first hurdle.

When asked if his future with England hangs on this week, Lancaster said: “I think that’s fair to say.

“It’s a must-win game because if we lose we don’t get out of the group.

“So there’s no point hiding where the accountability lies.

“As a head coach you don’t take the players beyond Saturday, you take them to Saturday.

“You put them in the right place to play a strong game on Saturday.

“There’s no denying it, the stakes are huge for us, but the boys will be ready.

“I’m not going beyond this game, there’s a lot of things to play out over the next two weeks.

“You can’t spend your time thinking about what’s happened in the past or what might happen in the future.

“If you distract yourself with the what-ifs then you aren’t doing your job.”

Owen Farrell has been retained at fly-half — George Ford continues on the bench — with Burgess set to reprise the role of second-half impact replacement that he played against Fiji.

Ben Morgan returns at number eight in one of two changes to the pack, taking the place of Billy Vunipola who has been ruled out of the remainder of the World Cup by a knee injury.

Morgan has recovered from his knee problem but an issue with the same joint has accounted for Courtney Lawes, who misses out with Joe Launchbury promoted from the bench to partner Geoff Parling in the second row.

Scrum-half Ben Youngs, who excelled against Wales, has overcome his ankle injury and will be involved in a match England must win if they are to save their World Cup from oblivion.

Nick Easter, Vunipola’s squad replacement, goes straight on to the bench so James Haskell is axed from the 23 altogether, while George Kruis provides second-row cover.

“Jonathan Joseph and Ben Youngs are both fit and raring to go, as are the rest of the squad for what will be a huge game against a very good team,” Lancaster said.

“England-Australia matches at Twickenham are always massive occasions, this one more than ever, and we want everyone behind us so we can get the result we all want.”