Reserve back Nathan Grey is firming as favourite to be the Australian five-eighth against England on Saturday as coach Eddie Jones confirmed he would take one of the biggest gambles in rugby Test history.

Jones said either inside centre Grey or winger Joe Roff would get the job of directly opposing the world's best player - Jonny Wilkinson - after five-eighth Elton Flatley's sleepy slip-up cost him his Wallabies spot.

Flatley's axing for disciplinary reasons has left Jones with a cupboard bare of flyhalves to take on the team now rated as the world's best.

With Flatley only included because of first-choice Stephen Larkham's elbow injury, Jones said he would now turn to reserve back Grey or move Roff in from the wing to fill the five-eighth's role.

Jones ruled out all other alternatives - Waratahs duo Mat Rogers and Matt Burke and Queensland utility back Julian Huxley - saying it was now a race in two.

Neither Grey or Roff has played as first-choice five-eighth in international rugby, though Grey did spend some time there as a fill-in in Australia's loss to England at Twickenham in 2001.

Both have trained for the past three weeks as Flatley's understudy and spent equal amounts of time there at training in Melbourne.

But a closed session is likely to determine who Jones chooses when the team is announced on Wednesday.

"We've been training with Greysie and Roffy at (number) 10 over the last three weeks as the second five-eighth so I'm sure we'll make the adjustments reasonably quickly," Jones said.

"Greysie played two years ago against England at Twickenham in the second half replacing Rod Kafer.

"Roffy's had a fair bit of training experience. We've exhausted all the No.10s in Australia through one process or another.

"We've got two guys there - we're not sure how they're going to go, England's not sure how they're going to go.

"It sets it up for a pretty exciting match."

Grey's inclusion off the bench would cause the least disruption to the Wallabies' backline.

Rogers and Burke may come into contention for selection as outside backs if Jones does decide to reshape the Wallabies backline from the team which beat Wales 30-10 last weekend.

England is also set to make changes to the team which beat the All Blacks 15-13 at the weekend, with prop Phil Vickery rated a strong chance to come in when coach Clive Woodward names the England team.

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