Eddie Jones has named his side for England’s RBS 6 Nations game against Italy at Twickenham Stadium on Sunday (kick-off 3pm, live on ITV).
There are four changes to the starting XV that beat Wales at Principality Stadium in round two of the Championship.
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In the back line Ben Te’o (Worcester Warriors) gets his first start in an England shirt at outside-centre. Danny Care (Harlequins) is named at scrum-half and Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby) returns to the right wing. In the scrum James Haskell (Wasps) is named at flanker.
“We have had a good two-week preparation for Italy and we’re ready to go,” said England head coach Jones.
“We trained very well in the city last week and this week the training has been very impressive. The boys are really on song, we have had great competition for places, and we’ve picked a very strong 23 to play against Italy."
On the bench Mako Vunipola (Saracens) returns to an England match-day 23 for the first time this year having recovered from a knee injury. The loose-head prop is included alongside Jack Clifford (Harlequins), Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers), Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs) and Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs) who will all finish the game.
England are looking to become the first team since the RBS 6 Nations was introduced at the turn of the century to win consecutive Grand Slams.
To do that, however, they will need to beat Italy on Sunday - but the history books are on their side - never before have the Azzurri downed England.
England: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Jonny May, 13 Ben Te’o, 12 Owen Farrell, 11 Elliot Daly, 10 George Ford, 9 Danny Care, 8 Nathan Hughes, 7 James Haskell, 6 Maro Itoje, 5 Courtney Lawes, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley (c), 1 Joe Marler
Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Mako Vunipola, 18 Kyle Sinckler, 19 Tom Wood, 20 Jack Clifford, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Henry Slade, 23 Jack Nowell
Italy: 15 Edoardo Padovani, 14 Giulio Bisegni, 13 Michele Campagnaro, 12 Luke McLean, 11 Giovanbattista Venditti, 10 Tommaso Allan, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Simone Favaro, 6 Abraham Steyn, 5 Andries Van Schalkwyk, 4 Marco Fuser, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Andrea Lovotti
Replacements: 16 Ornel Gega, 17 Michele Rizzo, 18 Pietro Ceccarelli, 19 George Biagi, 20 Maxime Mata Mbanda’, 21 Giorgio Bronzini, 22 Carlo Canna, 23 Tommaso Benvenuti
Date: Sunday, February 26
Venue: Twickenham, London
Kick-off: 15:00 GMT
Referee: Romain Poite (France)
Assistant Referees: Mathieu Raynal (France), Andrew Brace (Ireland)
TMO: George Ayoub (Australia)
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