| Venue: Twickenham Date: Saturday, 9 March Kick-off: 16:45 GMT |
| Coverage: Listen to live commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live from 16:45 GMT; follow text updates and video highlights on BBC Sport website and app. |
Marcus Smith has returned to the England squad after recovering from a calf injury picked up in training.
The fly-half is in contention to face Ireland at Twickenham in the Six Nations on Saturday.
Smith, 25, was injured before England’s opener against Italy and is yet to feature in the championship.
Scrum-half Alex Mitchell is also available after a knee problem which ruled him out of their last match – a defeat by Scotland at Murrayfield.
In Smith’s absence, Sale’s George Ford wore the number 10 shirt for England’s three games so far, with Northampton’s Fin Smith making his first international appearances off the bench.
Head coach Steve Borthwick will now need to decide whether to bring Harlequins player Smith straight into the fold against the Grand Slam-chasing Irish.
Meanwhile, Mitchell established himself as England’s first-choice number nine at last autumn’s World Cup and is expected to return to the matchday squad if he is able to prove his sharpness in training this week.
Mitchell’s return means Harry Randall drops out of the wider 36-man group, with Danny Care and Ben Spencer the other scrum-halves.
Wing Immanuel Feyi-Waboso also returns to the squad after missing last week’s training camp because of a university exam.
‘Ireland used to being favourites’
England’s Six Nations campaign was derailed by a deflating 30-21 defeat to Scotland at Murrayfield, with Borthwick’s side now needing to beat Ireland or France to salvage their campaign.
But with the visitors heavy favourites this weekend, Ireland great Jamie Heaslip told the Rugby Union Daily podcast he is struggling to see an upset at Twickenham.
Ireland have won their past four Tests against England and have won at Twickenham five times in the Six Nations era.
“I think England have got amazingly talented players, I just don’t think the English side are playing to the strengths of those players,” Heaslip said.
“I think they are playing a style that doesn’t suit them, and I think Ireland are going to exploit a lot of the chinks in the armour there.
“The mantle of Ireland being the favourites does not irk these guys, they are well used to that.
“They are not going to fear coming there [Twickenham], they have won there consistently and they have beaten England consistently over the last period.
“But they have been in the position England are in and they are fully aware people can pull it out of the bag. That is why the complacency won’t set in.”
