Six Nations 2014: Manu Tuilagi Recalled But England Unchanged for Italy
Manu Tuilagi will start on the bench for an otherwise unchanged England against Italy in the final Six Nations match of the campaign in Rome on Saturday.
Coach Stuart Lancaster has named the same XV that defeated Wales at Twickenham, with one change on the bench seeing Tuilagi replace Alex Goode.
Tuilagi hasn't represented England since last March having missed the autumn internationals and the first four Six Nations games with a chest injury but returned for Leicester Tigers against Newcastle at the start of March.
"It's great to be able to name an unchanged 15 and we have been able to achieve consistency of selection from a very competitive squad this campaign," Lancaster said.
"The Wales result was very significant for us but we need to finish the tournament well in Rome. We have had a tight turnaround and the key this week has been to manage the players' recovery and get them in the best shape for what will be a tough match against Italy."
With Ireland holding an insurmountable points advantage going into the final weekend, England must beat Italy and hope France can topple Joe Schmidt's side in Paris in Brian O'Driscoll's final international in order to claim the title.
Since losing to France on the opening weekend, England secured the Triple Crown for the first time since 2003 after beating Scotland, Ireland and Wales in successive games and could add a second piece of silverware this weekend.
"We can't control anything that happens to them (Ireland) all we can do is control what we can control and first and foremost we've got to get a win in Italy," added Lancaster.
"We won there two years ago and just got a win, we won at Twickenham last year but there's a big challenge coming our way and we've got to focus on that and not get too carried away with ourselves.
"We've got to get our preparation and performance this weekend first, but looking back on the tournament so far we've played some good rugby, obviously that France game was disappointing to lose that one
"But overall we're delighted with the progress we're making, we've got a big tour coming in the summer to New Zealand so there's plenty to play for.
"It'll be a great tour, obviously we've got some lads who won't be available for the first game due to the Premiership final so there's opportunities for some other lads to come their way."
England XV against Italy:
Backs: 15- Mike Brown, 14- Jack Nowell, 13- Luther Burrell, 12- Billy Twelvetrees, 11- Jonny May, 10- Owen Farrell, 9- Danny Care
Forwards: 1- Joe Marler, 2- Dylan Hartley, 3- David Wilson, 4- Joe Launchbury, 5- Courtney Lawes, 6- Tom Wood, 7- Chris Robshaw, 8- Ben Morgan
Replacements: 16- Tom Youngs, 17- Mako Vunipola, 18- Henry Thomas, 19- Dave Attwood, 20- Tom Johnson, 21- Lee Dickson, 22- George Ford, 23- Manu Tuilagi
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