England interim coach Stuart Lancaster named an unchanged squad for Saturday’s Six Nations Championship match against Italy in Rome.
After seeing his reign as temporary England boss start with a 13-6 win away to Scotland last weekend, it was no surprise that Lancaster stuck with the same match-day squad that delivered the team’s first Calcutta Cup victory at Murrayfield for eight years.
Charlie Hodgson, who scored England’s decisive try in Edinburgh, continues at fly-half after overcoming a shoulder injury and will form an all Saracens midfield trio alongside centres Owen Farrell and Brad Barritt, both of whom made their Test debuts last weekend.
Harlequins flanker Chris Robshaw captains the side for the second time following the Calcutta Cup success in what will be the first international rugby match played at Rome’s Olympic Stadium.
Elsewhere in the pack, Northampton’s Phil Dowson stays at No.8 and will be in direct opposition to impressive Italy captain Sergio Parisse, with Ben Morgan looking to star off the bench as he did when coming on for his debut against Scotland.
Reserve scrum-half Lee Dickson has been passed fit despite a hand injury, with Lancaster again opting for a four-three split between forwards and backs on the bench.
“We have decided to leave the starting team the same to allow them more time to gel together and we are expecting our bench to come on and make an impact as they did last week,” said Lancaster.
“Italy will be a very difficult challenge with nearly 700 caps in their starting line-up and it promises to be an outstanding occasion at the sold-out Stadio Olimpico.”
Wasps hooker Rob Webber was the only one of England’s eight uncapped players at Murrayfield who did not get on the field.