North benched as Wales sticks with winning XV
Warren Gatland has opted to stick with the Wales XV that started Sunday's (AEDT) Six Nations win against Scotland for this weekend's trip to face England.
Wales was convincing 34-7 winners over Gregor Townsend's men despite being blighted by a long list of injuries in the build-up to the tournament, with Sam Warburton, Taulupe Faletau, Liam Williams and Rhys Webb among the absentees.
Leigh Halfpenny, who scored two tries as part of a 24-point haul in Cardiff, is one of 10 Scarlets players to keep their place in the starting line-up, with Worcester wing Josh Adams also retained after impressing on his debut.
Adams' inclusion comes despite picking up a minor injury against Scotland, with North selected as cover following his return to fitness after a knee issue.
"It's great to name an unchanged starting XV, the players deserve that for a very good performance on the opening weekend," said Gatland.
"We have made one change on the bench, with George coming in for Owen [Watkin], which is tough on Owen, but Josh picked up a slight hip strain last weekend so George provides us a bit more cover there.
"We know how tough it is going to be against that huge English forward pack. They are really going to test us.
"England have been in great form the last couple of years, so we know the challenge we face but we have had a good couple of weeks in camp and we are looking forward to going up to Twickenham."
Eddie Jones' England began its quest for a third consecutive Six Nations title with a 46-15 win in Italy.
Wales XV: Leigh Halfpenny, Josh Adams, Scott Williams, Hadleigh Parkes, Steff Evans, Rhys Patchell, Gareth Davies; Rob Evans, Ken Owens, Samson Lee, Cory Hill, Alun Wyn Jones, Aaron Shingler, Josh Navidi, Ross Moriarty.
Replacements: Elliot Dee, Wyn Jones, Tomas Francis, Bradley Davies, Justin Tipuric, Aled Davies, Gareth Anscombe, George North.
