Breaking NewNorthampton Saints’ Courtney Lawes set for England return against Wales
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Courtney Lawes looks set to return to the England side for Saturday’s Six Nations clash with Wales at Twickenham.
The Saints forward has been retained by England interim head coach Stuart Lancaster, while Stade Francais lock Tom Palmer is among the players who have been released back to their clubs.
Saints team-mate Calum Clark has been sent back to Franklin’s Gardens and will be available for the Premiership clash with London Irish on Sunday, but Northampton will have to do without Courtney Lawes to make it six players from the club on England duty this weekend
Lawes has played the last two matches for Saints after six weeks out with a knee injury that saw him mess the first two games of the Six Nations.
The Jimmy’s End giant is likely to be on the bench to face Wales, with Leicester lock Geoff Parling set to make his first Test start for England.
Parling is understood to have been promoted into the starting line-up along with Northampton scrum-half Lee Dickson and Scarlets number eight Ben Morgan, with Saints’ Phil Dowson dropping to the bench.
All three made an impact off the bench in England’s opening Six Nations victories over Scotland and Italy.
Palmer started both those games but he has been released by interim head coach Stuart Lancaster to play for Stade Francais this weekend.
Manu Tuilagi and Toby Flood are also back in England’s match-day squad for the first time in the tournament, with both Leicester players expected to start from the bench as Owen Farrell and Charlie Hodgson keep their places.
As a result, Harlequins full-back Mike Brown and centre Jordan Turner-Hall have dropped out of England’s 22-man squad.
Lancaster has also released Harlequins hooker Chris Brooker, Wasps scrum-half Joe Simpson and Leicester number eight Thomas Waldrom.
Lancaster said: “We’ve had a great two days of training and some difficult selection decisions with players coming back into the equation.
“There are some players who have missed out this time but their attitude in training has been outstanding.
“We will look forward to meeting again on Wednesday night with our match day 22 and finalising preparations for the game.”
Palmer is the biggest casualty and perhaps a victim of England not enjoying the lineout solidity they would have liked over the opening two rounds of the championship.
“We were nine from 11 in Scotland and 14 from 17 in Italy, wih sleet all over the ball against a very competent Italian pack,” said forwards coach Graham Rowntree.
“Not all of it was clean so I am looking to improve our delivery and certainly the tempo at which we go about our line-out.”
Lancaster will confirm his line-up to face Wales on Thursday morning.
Parling, who is expected to run the lineout, toured with England to Australia in 2010 but he returned home with a neck problem and then suffered a succession of knee injuries which kept him out of England contention until this season.
Dickson and Morgan have been in line for a promotion since their game-changing impact against Italy in Rome last week, when both players injected a much-needed tempo to England’s performance.
Ben Youngs has been struggling for form and is set to be named on the bench while Phil Dowson will cover all three back row positions.
While Dickson brings a zip and an energy to England’s game, Morgan’s powerful ball-carrying has impressed the management since his arrival in the national squad.
Given Morgan plys his club trade for the Scarlets, he has also been able to pass on some useful tips about the Welsh players.
“He knows those players. Ben’s got his own game to worry about. He has made giant strides with us in terms of his game development,” Rowntree said.
“He’s a very coachable man. He showed that coming off the bench in Italy in all parts of his game. I have been really impressed with him.”
England will go into the game without any specialist cover at wing or full-back, although Tuilagi could be pressed into action out wide if necessary.
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