10 February 2015, 18:53

Same 23-man squad which won in Cardiff will face Italy

Lancaster names starting line-up at 9:45am on Thursday

Stuart Lancaster has named an unchanged match day squad for Saturday’s RBS 6 Nations match against Italy at Twickenham (2.30pm, live on BBC 1).

The England Head Coach has retained the 23 players who achieved a fine 21-16 victory over Wales in the Championship opener in Cardiff on Friday evening.

The win, secured by maiden Test tries from Anthony Watson and Jonathan Joseph with fly half George Ford contributing 11 points, was the only the second at the Millennium Stadium in the last seven visits.

Despite the notable return to training of Brad Barritt, Kyle Eastmond and Geoff Parling this week, Lancaster said it is right that the group which performed last week should get the chance to build on their success.

“We’ll name the team on Thursday but we’ve gone for the same squad given the performance against Wales,” he said. “Though there are guys pushing hard for selection it’s important to have consistency and to build on the result in Cardiff.

“What’s encouraging is that we have quality players across the board who can go back to their Aviva Premiership clubs and put a marker down for later in the Six Nations.”

The squad will re-assemble at Pennyhill Park on Wednesday evening and the starting XV and replacements will be announced at 9.45am on Thursday.

England squad for Italy (23)

Forwards (13)

Dave Attwood (Bath Rugby)

Kieran Brookes (Newcastle Falcons)

Nick Easter (Harlequins)

Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers)

Tom Croft (Leicester Tigers)

Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints)

James Haskell (Wasps)

George Kruis (Saracens)

Joe Marler (Harlequins)

Chris Robshaw (captain, Harlequins)

Billy Vunipola (Saracens)

Mako Vunipola (Saracens)

Tom Youngs (Leicester Tigers)

Backs (10)

Mike Brown (Harlequins)

Luther Burrell (Northampton Saints)

Danny Cipriani (Sale Sharks)

George Ford (Bath Rugby)

Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby)

Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby)

Billy Twelvetrees (Gloucester Rugby)

Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby)

Richard Wigglesworth (Saracens)

Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)