Croft back for England

Lions flanker Tom Croft has returned to the England squad for the Calcutta Cup RBS 6 Nations clash with Scotland on Sunday. [more]

Croft back for England

Lions flanker Tom Croft has returned to the England squad for the Calcutta Cup RBS 6 Nations clash with Scotland on Sunday.

The 2009 Lion made six appearances during the tour of South Africa and featured in all three Tests.

He returns to the England match-day squad for the first time since fracturing his shoulder in the autumn clash with South Africa having returned to action with Leicester in the past weeks.

The only change in the starting line-up sees Alex Corbisiero return in the place of injured two-tour Lion Andrew Sheridan.

In the backs Toby Flood hangs on to the fly-half jersey despite his Achilles scare with Jonny Wilkinson having to contend with a place among the replacements.

"The Achilles is fine, it settled down a lot in the week so thankfully I've been able to train as much as possible.
"I'm confident I can last the match. As long as my lungs hold up, my body should hold up as well.

"But I'm in a position where if something does go wrong, Jonny Wilkinson can come in a do what he does best. It's not an issue in my mind.

"There's no added pressure competing with Jonny. I enjoy it , it's a nice place to be when you have to set the standards.

"You know when Jonny's out there that there's huge competition for your position but you don't let it get to you. You just get on with it."

Grand Slam chasing England are red-hot favourites to put the Scots to the sword. Scotland have not won at Twickenham since 1983 and have lost their opening three games of the Championship. But Flood is adamant England will not underestimate their auld enemy.

"I don't think we've had as much reservations as with this game. If you look at their tour results and the autumn where they beat South Africa who absolutely battered us.

"We see them as a huge, huge threat. A team that's lost against the bounce, where they should've won is a massively dangerous one.

"We want to play and take it to them but we're very wary of the threat they pose."

England team to face Scotland: Ben Foden ; Chris Ashton, Mike Tindall (capt), Shontanye Hape, Mark Cueto; Toby Flood, Ben Youngs; Alex Corbisiero, Dylan Hartley , Dan Cole, Louis Deacon, Tom Palmer, Tom Wood, James Haskell , Nick Easter.

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