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| - England have recalled George Ford at fly-half for Saturday's Six Nations clash against Italy at Twickenham, with captain Owen Farrell moving to inside centre. Leicester outside-half Ford was on the bench for last weekend's shock home loss to Scotland, with Farrell starting at No 10 instead. But the Saracens star was widely criticised for his performance as reigning champions England opened their Six Nations title defence with a lacklustre 11-6 Calcutta Cup defeat. By the time Ford replaced centre Ollie Lawrence, it was too late for England to turn the tide. Farrell's performance led some pundits to suggest coach Eddie Jones should drop his skipper, but instead he has reverted to a familiar 10-12 combination by including the 73-times capped Ford in his starting line-up. The unlucky Lawrence was dropped entirely from the matchday 23, despite having to wait until the 63rd minute to make his first carry against the Scots. "We just think this is the right balance for the game," Jones said. "We know that George and Owen operate well at 10 and 12. We'd like to get Sladey (outside centre Henry Slade) into the game more, so we think this is the right balance for this game." Ford's return in place of Lawrence was the only personnel change in England's back division, but Jones has made several alterations to his pack. Jones opted for a brand new front row, with props Kyle Sinckler and Mako Vunipola returning from suspension and injury in place of the benched Will Stuart and Ellis Genge after England were dominated in the scrum by Scotland. Luke Cowan-Dickie starts at hooker in place of Jamie George, who has been unexpectedly demoted to a replacement berth. "They bring a lot of experience and nous," said Jones of Sinckler and Vunipola. "The scrum has traditionally been difficult against Italy and we expect the same on Saturday." Elsewhere, Courtney Lawes has been preferred at blindside flanker to Mark Wilson, with Jones standing by a second row of Maro Itoje and Jonny Hill. Jones said his changes were designed to ensure the team could play "good English rugby, where we are as close to our best as we can be". "That involves having good set-piece, good defence," he said. "We want to be on the front foot the whole time and that pack allows us to do that, and then the backs have got to be able to take those opportunities and turn them into points and that's the priority this week." Having blamed himself for the Scotland defeat immediately after full-time, Jones was asked on Thursday what was the most important lesson he had learned from that loss. "Just get our thinking right. Last week we got the information wrong, we've just tried to get the information right this week, which can get us back playing on the front foot, playing front-foot rugby. "That's when we're at our best, that's when we are one of the most damaging teams in the world and that's what we want to get back to." England have never lost to Italy, who suffered their 28th successive Six Nations defeat against all opponents when they were hammered 50-10 by France in Rome last week. England (15-1) Elliot Daly, Anthony Watson, Henry Slade, Owen Farrell (capt), Jonny May; George Ford, Ben Youngs; Billy Vunipola, Tom Curry, Courtney Lawes; Jonny Hill, Maro Itoje; Kyle Sinckler, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Mako Vunipola Replacements: Jamie George, Ellis Genge, Will Stuart, Charlie Ewels, Ben Earl, Jack Willis, Dan Robson, Max Malins Coach: Eddie Jones (AUS) jdg/jw/bsp
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