Nowell to start for England in Italy

EXETER Chiefs winger Jack Nowell has been recalled to the England starting XV for tomorrow’s Six Nations trip to Rome, where they will face Italy.

Nowell returns to the side in place of Joe Marchant, who moves to outside centre, with head coach Eddie Jones making eight positional changes following defeat to Scotland at Murrayfield last weekend.

Henry Slade retains his place at inside centre, but Luke CowanDickie has paid the price for his costly error in handing Scotland victory last week and drops to the bench, along with Sam Simmonds with Alex Dombrandt taking the number eight shirt.

Jamie George (hooker) and Will Stuart (tight-head prop) start in the front row alongside Ellis Genge at loose-head prop. Charlie Ewels and Nick Isiekwe are named at lock and Maro Itoje moves to blind-side flanker.

Ben Youngs could become the joint most-capped England men’s player of all time, alongside Jason Leonard, after being named as a finisher. Youngs made his debut against Scotland in March 2010 and is in line to add to his 113 caps on Sunday.

“We’ve set ourselves the target of playing really well and lighting up Rome,” Jones said.

“We’ve made some changes and this is the best side to face Italy. We want to start fast and take the game to them.

“They can be a dangerous team and have some very good players in the likes of Garbisi, Negri and Lamaro.

“It’s been a difficult week, but the players have bounced back well, trained hard and are ready to put on a good performance on Sunday.”

England: Freddie Steward, Max Malins, Joe Marchant, Henry Slade, Jack Nowell, Marcus Smith, Harry Randall, Ellis Genge, Jamie George, Will Stuart, Charlie Ewels, Nick Isiekwe, Maro Itoje, Tom Curry, Alex Dombrandt. Finishers: Luke Cowan-Dickie, Joe Marler, Kyle Sinckler, Ollie Chessum, Sam Simmonds, Ben Youngs, George Ford, Elliot Daly.