Timani was left out of last weekend's match against Ireland for Dean Mumm given there was more of a focus on disrupting the lineout.

This week, with all the pre-match chat centring on a salivating scrum battle, Cheika has gone all guns blazing by picking Timani to hopefully give the Wallabies an advantage and target England who are without a player of significant influence in Billy Vunipola.

"He [Timani] will give us a lot of punch and strength in attack and defence," Cheika said. "That extra weight he's got, his ball carrying and strong defence [is helpful]. It's going to be a very physical game and he's fresh now after a couple of weeks off and ready to go. I think we'll need that extra grunt in there for this game."

Michael Hooper retains the No.7 jersey while David Pocock moves to blindside breakaway – the position he played in the first two matches of the tour against Wales and Scotland.

In other changes, Kane Douglas replaces Rory Arnold in the second row while Sefa Naivalu has been rewarded for a fine showing against Ireland with a spot on the left wing.

Australia's World Cup final second row pairing of Douglas and Rob Simmons will be reunited for the first time since the France match less than a fortnight ago but the omission of Arnold is a tough blow for the Brumbies big man who has had a fine year to date.

"I thought he [Douglas] had a good second half when he came on [against Ireland]," Cheika said. "He's been a guy trying to get back to his best form. He'd had a really good training week and I wanted to give him some extended time and get him involved. I think he did well and I wanted to reward that."

Outside of the France match, in which a number of star players were rested to save themselves for the Ireland game a week later, Cheika had stuck with the same backline all tour until now.

Naivalu scored his first Test try in Dublin after being on the field for only a minute and clearly impressed Cheika thereafter to earn a start in what will be the biggest game of his career to date.

"His performances off the bench probably early on reflected a bit of his lack of experience at this level," Cheika said. "But the more time he's had the more he's understood what he needs to do and he looks threatening. Henry's had [some] real solid games for us but I wanted to give Sefa a chance because I think he's earned it from his performances as a finisher and his starting performance against the French."

Nick Phipps has been confirmed as Australia's halfback given Will Genia was not released by his club side Stade Francais.

The 27-year-old was targeted by England in the June series and incumbent halfback Ben Youngs said during the week they would look to the do same again but Cheika was confident Phipps would be up to the task.

"He'll be fine," Cheika said. "He played well in the Welsh game. I thought he's always done a good job for us. You say he was targeted in June but I think you can target a halfback if he's not getting the platform he needs. Our forwards are very clear that that can't happen. We need a platform and if Nick Phipps is targeted it's because of the forwards and not Nick Phipps. They go hand in hand and I'm not going to be pointing the finger at him for that."

There has been no reprieve for the Wallabies at training this week with Cheika ramming home that although a grand slam is not up for the taking they need to be sharp for a match that has been circled on the calendar since the night of June 25 when Australia lost their third Test on the bounce to the Red Roses in embarrassing circumstances.

"We could just sit down and say we're going to save our energy for Saturday but I think if you want to be hard on the weekend you have to be hard in the week," Cheika said. "You want that toughness in your head and I thought we have had some good, physical sessions."

James Slipper and Tom Robertson have got the nod as reserve props on what is a 5-3 bench that includes Nick Frisby, Quade Cooper and Speight.

Wallabies team: Scott Sio, Stephen Moore, Sekope Kepu, Kane Douglas, Rob Simmons, David Pocock, Michael Hooper, Lopeti Timani, Nick Phipps, Bernard Foley, Sefa Naivalu, Reece Hodge, Tevita Kuridrani, Dane Haylett-Petty, Israel Folau.

Bench: Tolu Latu, James Slipper, Tom Robertson, Dean Mumm, Sean McMahon, Nick Frisby, Quade Cooper, Henry Speight.