It's the first time in two years that England have kept the same XV and just the eighth time in 6 Nations history.

Lancaster's first senior side featured three debutants in his starting XV and a further five on the bench, with only Wasps hooker Rob Webber missing out on a first cap.

Ben Morgan's impressive late cameo in Edinburgh led to suggestions he may win the No8 berth in Rome but Lancaster has instead decided to stick with Northampton's Phil Dowson at the base of the scrum.

Teenage centre Owen Farrell retains his place after an impressive debut alongside club-mate Brad Barritt, while fellow Saracen Charlie Hodgson keeps the No10 shirt despite the availability of Toby Flood.

Flood, who was England's first-choice fly-half in last year's 6 Nations, was part of the wider training squad this week but was released for Aviva Premiership action along with seven other players including 2009 Lion Lee Mears.

"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.

"The bench is an important dynamic for us, in the same way it was last week. The likes of Geoff Parling and Ben Morgan coming on in the second half will bring power and tempo to our game.

"Where we struggled at points against Scotland we didn't retain enough quality possession. We need to make sure we give ourselves more time with the ball and less time defending."

Northamptonscrum-half Lee Dickson has recovered from a hand problem to take his place on the bench but his Saints colleagues Tom Wood and Courtney Lawes remain out injured.

Harlequins prop Joe Marler and Wasps No9 Joe Simpson will travel with the squad but have not been named in the matchday 22.

England (v Italy, Stadio Olimpico, Saturday, 4pm)

15 Ben Foden (Northampton Saints)
14 Chris Ashton (Northampton Saints)
13 Brad Barritt (Saracens)
12 Owen Farrell (Saracens)
11 David Strettle (Saracens)
10 Charlie Hodgson (Saracens)
9 Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)

1 Alex Corbisiero (London Irish)
2 Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints)
3 Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers)
4 Mouritz Botha (Saracens)
5 Tom Palmer (Stade Francais)
6 Tom Croft (Leicester Tigers)
7 Chris Robshaw (Harlequins, captain)
8 Phil Dowson (Northampton Saints)

Replacements

16 Rob Webber (London Wasps)
17 Matt Stevens (Saracens)
18 Geoff Parling (Leicester Tigers)
19 Ben Morgan (Scarlets)
20 Lee Dickson (Northampton Saints)
21 Jordan Turner-Hall (Harlequins)
22 Mike Brown (Harlequins)

NB Bold denotes Lion