The Irish will be looking for a fourth win in five attempts at Twickenham and know that victory would likely hand them second place in the Championship.

Skipper Paul O’Connell is still not fit so Rory Best will again captain the Irish, overtaking Keith Wood to become Ireland’s most capped hooker of all time with 85 caps.

Meanwhile Donnacha Ryan again gets the nod in the second row after impressing in Dublin.

There are no changes outside the pack, with Tommy Bowe still a try short of the Championship try-scoring record after coming agonisingly close to his sixth try of the campaign against Scotland.

Kidney said: “I thought Peter (O’Mahony) played really well and it was an absolutely tight selection call, but Sean has trained well and just got the nod.

“England are improving with every match and have won three games on the road, so they will be looking forward to playing at home again.

“They had a fine win in Paris, so that will have given them a lot of confidence.”

15. Rob Kearney (Leinster)
14. Tommy Bowe (Ospreys)
13. Keith Earls (Munster)
12. Gordon D'Arcy (Leinster)
11. Andrew Trimble (Ulster)
10. Jonathan Sexton (Leinster)
9. Eoin Reddan (Leinster)
1. Cian Healy (Leinster)
2. Rory Best (Ulster)
3. Mike Ross (Leinster)
4. Donncha O'Callaghan (Munster)
5. Donnacha Ryan (Munster)
6. Stephen Ferris (Ulster)
7. Sean O'Brien (Leinster)
8. Jamie Heaslip (Leinster)
Replacements:
16. Sean Cronin (Leinster)
17. Tom Court (Ulster)
18. Mike McCarthy (Connacht)
19. Peter O'Mahony (Munster)
20. Tomas O'Leary (Munster)
21. Ronan O'Gara (Munster)
22. Fergus McFadden (Leinster)