Lawes and Tuilagi back for England against Wales

London — Courtney Lawes and Manu Tuilagi return to the England team to face Wales in the Six Nations at Twickenham on Saturday, while Harry Randall gets another chance to impress at scrumhalf in the squad named by coach Eddie Jones on Thursday.

Lawes missed the opening two games with concussion but comes back at blindside flanker to captain the team in the continued absence of the injured Owen Farrell.

Tuilagi is back after the latest of his long run of injuries and partners outside centre Henry Slade in midfield. He made his debut in 2011 but has missed 79 available matches since then, including a remarkable 50 of the 71 since Jones took over after the 2015 World Cup.

Maro Itoje and Charlie Ewels are named as locks, Tom Curry stays at open-side flanker and Alex Dombrandt is No 8. Luke Cowan-Dickie starts at hooker with Kyle Sinckler set to win his 50th cap at prop.

Max Malins and Jack Nowell are the wingers, with Freddie Steward at fullback.

Randall, who looked lively for 55 minutes in the win over Italy, will win his fourth cap, while replacement Ben Youngs will become England’s most-capped player with 115 if he gets on.

After losing their opening game in Scotland then beating Italy, England now have back-to-back home games against Wales and Ireland, which, if they win both, should set up a potential title decider in Paris on the last day.

Wales will give No 8 Taulupe Faletau his first taste of Test rugby in seven months but wing Louis Rees-Zammit has been dropped from the match-day squad.

Faletau has played just two club games since injuring his ankle on the British & Irish Lions tour of SA in 2021 but has been drafted in to start by coach Wayne Pivac in a back row that includes Ross Moriarty, who switches to the blindside flank, and Taine Basham.

“He’s trained well during the week and got 80 minutes last week. From our point of view he brings a lot of experience, so we’re very excited to have Toby [Faletau] back,” Pivac said on Thursday.

The return of wing Josh Adams and the form of a rejuvenated Alex Cuthbert, winning his 50th cap on Saturday, means there is no room in the side — nor the squad — for Rees-Zammit, in a surprise omission.

“It’s also great to have Josh Adams back from injury. That means Louis Rees-Zammit is the unfortunate one this week that misses out,” Pivac said. “But we’ve looked at the opposition we’re playing and niggly injuries that players pick up from time to time, and we think that in this particular match, the way the game will go, that Alex and Josh are the right selection.”

The rest of the side is as expected, with flyhalf Dan Biggar facing an intriguing battle with opposite number Marcus Smith in the England camp. He will be alongside scrumhalf Tomos Williams, with a midfield partnership of Nick Tompkins and Owen Watkin.

The front row of the scrum features hooker Ryan Elias and either side of him are props Wyn Jones and Tomas Francis, while Will Rowlands and Adam Beard are the lock pairing.

Flyhalf Gareth Anscombe and experienced centre Jonathan Davies are among the replacements.