The England head coach Steve Borthwick has described Max Ojomoh as “one of the most talented players in English rugby” after recalling the centre to his starting side to face Japan.

Ojomoh is in line for his first international appearance in nearly a year after earning selection in a much-changed backline, wearing No 12 following an injury to Seb Atkinson.

The Bath midfielder won player of the match in his last England outing against Argentina in November of last year, but then fell out of favour, spending periods out of Borthwick’s squad.

But with Atkinson absent and Benhard Janse van Rensburg stood down from this campaign as he works his way back from concussion, Ojomoh has got the nod ahead of Fraser Dingwall as Henry Slade’s centre partner.

Borthwick has challenged Ojomoh to put his best game on the park at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium in the Nations Championship clash – so long as he and the rest of England’s individuals stick to the team’s strategy.

“Max is one of the most talented players in English rugby. I think that’s undeniable. You can see what he can do with the ball in his hands,” said Borthwick. “That’s one of the reasons why I’m looking forward to seeing him out there on Saturday.

“The team is always the most important thing, at the same time, it’s the balance between the team, self-sacrifice, and self-expression. You’ve got players there that when the moment is right, and they’ll judge the moment, that self-expression comes through. So [wing] Will Joseph can get his hands on the ball and back himself in those moments. Go and beat the man in front of him.

“Similarly for Max Ojomoh, there are always moments where players go and express themselves. Those moments will come more often when we’re playing a really cohesive team performance. That’s one of the challenges because this backline hasn’t played together an awful lot.

“That’s where George Ford, [Jack van Poortvliet], Freddie Steward, Henry Slade, those guys have got a huge role to play. I’ve said a lot about how I value experience, how I value those players who have been in the Test match arena a lot, those players have got a responsibility to help bring those younger players through.”

Ojomoh is believed to have been asked to improve his work off-the-ball and cover more ground in both attack and defence, key ares of emphasis for England’s centres.

Borthwick is hopeful that Atkinson, who had worn No 12 in six consecutive Tests, will be back fit to face New Zealand in a week’s time.

The England head coach believes the role of a centre has become tougher and tougher as Test rugby has evolved.

“If you just track the centres and how quickly they move in attack from one side of the pitch to the other, [they have to have] the awareness to be alive,” he explained. “If both centres are stuck on one side of the pitch defensively, one of them is probably going to have to get to the other very, very fast. They’ve got to be really, really intelligent.

“So the centres are being asked to do so much more than they ever used to. At the same time, you’ve got to get the ball back off the opposition. One thing that pleased me last week was our backline, how many times they won the ball, they were physical and I want the backline to be physical, I want them to get the ball back. The way the game is constructed right now, you don’t want to be defending for lots of phases, so you’ve got to get the ball back. And who is involved in a lot of those phases? The centres.”

Joseph is a centre by trade but has also featured regularly on the wing throughout his career.

The sibling of 54-cap international Jonathan, the younger Joseph brother featured off the bench as a youngster on the 2022 tour to Australia under Eddie Jones but is in line for his first cap under Borthwick.

Explaining Joseph’s inclusion, he said: “There was a moment in training last week whenn Will got the ball and we had one of our most athletic defenders opposite in 3-4 metres of space. Will stood him up and went round him in that channel and he didn’t get a hand laid on him to run away and score a try.

“Training can be loud - people are shouting the attacks, communicating the defences and people coaching - and there was this moment when that happened when there was a silence around the training field.

“I don’t think I have ever heard that before. We have got the best players in England and they have just seen something happen, have been stunned by it and then celebrated it whichever team we were on.”