Stirling Mortlock returns from a shoulder injury to lead Australia against England in their World Cup quarter-final in Marseilles on Saturday.

The Wallabies captain picked up the injury diving for a try in Australia's 32-20 Pool B win over Wales in Cardiff. He missed the 55-12 win over Fiji and the 37-6 win over Canada at Bordeaux last Saturday, when eleven players were rested.

"The shoulder is great," Mortlock said. "I could have played last week but I decided to have an extra week of rehab. I'm excited to be playing again. There's no chance of getting complacent. Most of these England guys have been on teams that have beaten us."

Drew Mitchell, the tournament's leading try-scorer, has been dropped to the bench despite scoring seven tries in four appearances. John Connolly, the Australia head coach, has opted to start with Adam Ashley-Cooper on the right wing.

Berrick Barnes, the fly half, returns to the side after being rested for the Canada game. "He's a mature, young guy," Connolly said. "Whatever he does now he's only going to get better. He's very intuitive and he's still growing as a rugby player."

Connolly is not taking England lightly after the world champions gained some momentum with victories over Samoa and Tonga in Pool A after a one-sided defeat to South Africa. "I've said all along England is a very dangerous team," he said. "Their set piece has been their cornerstone for many years and they have incredible speed out wide and a No 10 who steers them around exceptionally well.

"When you look at our results through the pool games you'd have to say we're pretty happy with where we're at. But we're very conscious that we have to improve considerably on that to go any further in the tournament."

Australia team to play England: C Latham; A Ashley-Cooper, S Mortlock (capt), M Giteau, L Tuqiri; B Barnes, G Gregan; M Dunning, S Moore, G Shepherdson, N Sharpe, D Vickerman, R Elsom, G Smith, W Palu. Replacements: A Freier, A Baxter, H McMeniman, S Hoiles, P Waugh, J Huxley, D Mitchell.