Marcus Smith and Alex Mitchell have returned to the England‘s squad ahead of Saturday’s Six Nations match against Ireland at Twickenham after head coach Steve Borthwick made three changes to his initial team on Sunday.
ESPN reported on Monday that Smith and Mitchell were nearing their returns to the England squad after the fly-half missed all three of England’s matches in February after he suffered a calf injury in a training session before the tournament opener against Italy. Scrum-half Mitchell was unavailable last month due to a knee injury sustained in training after the win over Wales.
Their availability for the clash against title favourites Ireland will be seen as a major boost after England’s crushing 30-21 defeat by Scotland.
Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, 21, who scored a try in Edinburgh last week, has also been included in the squad despite missing training so that he could sit an exam at his university for his medical studies.
Flanker Tom Pearson was not included in the squad, while scrum-half Harry Randall and centre Max Ojomoh were the other players released to allow for the return of Smith, Mitchell and Feyi-Waboso.
England Six Nations squad to play Ireland
Forwards:Ollie Chessum, Dan Cole, Alex Coles, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Chandler Cunningham-South, Theo Dan, Alex Dombrandt, Ben Earl, Charlie Ewels, Ellis Genge, Jamie George, Joe Heyes, Maro Itoje, Joe Marler, George Martin, Beno Obano, Ethan Roots, Will Stuart, Sam Underhill
Backs:Danny Care, Elliot Daly, Fraser Dingwall, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, George Ford, Tommy Freeman, George Furbank, Ollie Lawrence, Alex Mitchell, Will Muir, Tom Roebuck, Henry Slade, Fin Smith, Marcus Smith, Ben Spencer, Freddie Steward, Manu Tuilagi