England have made three changes, with lock Courtney Lawes, prop Mako Vunipola and scrum-half Ben Youngs promoted from the bench to the starting XV.
Joe Launchbury, Joe Marler and Danny Care all drop to the replacements, who also include uncapped Saracens lock Maro Itoje as Jones opts to go for six-two forward-back split on the bench at the expense of young back Ollie Devoto, who made his debut from the bench in last week’s victory over Scotland.
Twitter: Your England squad for Sunday’s @rbs_6_nations clash against Italy. More here: https://t.co/5CwkJtFL2N https://t.co/vmiJQ5yOik (@EnglandRugby)
Italy, however, have made just the one change to the side that almost pushed a faltering French side over the brink last week with Luke McLean starting at full-back in place of David Odiete, who suffered an ankle sprain against France.
The addition of Mako Vunipola after a convincing performance last week, including a deft pass to Owen Farrell to set up England’s second try, will be particularly interesting considering his form and the possibility of a link-up with his equally destructive brother, Billy.
Italy: 15 Luke McLean, 14 Leonardo Sarto, 13 Michele Campagnaro, 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 Mattia Bellini, 10 Carlo Canna, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Alessandro Zanni, 6 Francesco Minto, 5 Marco Fuser, 4 George Fabio Biagi, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Ornel Gega, 1 Andrea Lovotti
Replacements: 16 Davide Giazzon, 17 Matteo Zanusso, 18 Martin Castrogiovanni, 19 Valerio Bernabo, 20 Andries van Schalkwyk, 21 Guglielmo Palazzani, 22 Edoardo Padovani, 23 Andrea Pratichetti
England: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Owen Farrell, 11 Jack Nowell, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 James Haskell, 6 Chris Robshaw, 5 George Kruis, 4 Courtney Lawes, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley (c), 1 Mako Vunipola
Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Joe Marler, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Joe Launchbury, 20 Maro Itoje, 21 Jack Clifford, 22 Danny Care, 23 Alex Goode
