Courtney Lawes has returned to the England second row for the Six Nations game against Scotland on Saturday.
Lawes, who missed England’s first three games with an ankle injury, will start alongside Dave Attwood with the only other change being Mike Brown at full-back now that he has recovered from concussion.
The lock replaces Saracens’ George Kruis, who is dropped following the defeat to Ireland, while Brown regains his place at the expense of Alex Goode.
Geoff Parling is likely to return to Six Nations action for the first time in two years after being brought on to the bench as specialist second-row cover alongside Northampton’s Tom Wood, replacing the injured Tom Croft and Harlequins’ Nick Easter.
The 31-year-old Parling, who is moving to Exeter from Leicester this summer, missed the 2014 Six Nations after having operations on both his shoulders. He was forced out of the third Test in New Zealand last summer with a strained hamstring, sat out the autumn series because of concussion and has not yet featured in this year’s championship after damaging knee ligaments in January.
The England’s forwards coach, Graham Rowntree, welcomed their return. “Courtney has matured as person and as a player,” he said. “You can’t hide what he brings for us physically. He has played two games for Saints and he has played well in both.
“Last season, on the summer tour and into the autumn, Courtney has played exceptionally well for us. He is back to his best. We have riches in our second-row resources at the moment with a lot of athletes there but Courtney is a special player.”
He added: “Geoff has a great game understanding and an ability to bring out the best in guys around him,” said Rowntree. “He is very wily, a clever footballer and has great leadership qualities. In the last couple of years he has added a real carrying dimension to his game and is explosive there. He is a Lion who brings a lot of experience.”
England team
Brown (Harlequins); Watson (Bath), Joseph (Bath), Burrell (Northampton), Nowell (Exeter); Ford (Bath), B Youngs (Leicester); Marler (Harlequins), Hartley (Northampton), Cole (Leicester), Attwood (Bath), Lawes (Northampton), Haskell (Wasps), Robshaw (Harlequins, capt), B Vunipola (Saracens).
Replacements T Youngs (Leicester), M Vunipola (Saracens), Brookes (Newcastle), Parling (Leicester), Wood (Northampton), Wigglesworth (Saracens), Cipriani (Sale), Twelvetrees (Gloucester).
