London (AFP) - England captain Owen Farrell has replaced the benched Marcus Smith at fly-half for Sunday's Six Nations match against Italy at Twickenham.
New England coach Steve Borthwick decided to break up the much-debated partnership between Harlequins fly-half Smith and Farrell, who played at inside centre in last week's 29-23 loss at home to Scotland.
Smith had a few creative touches in the match, with his well-judged cross kick setting up the first of Max Malins' two tries.
But Borthwick has now decided to field Farrell in the Saracens star's club position of fly-half.
In a further shake-up to his back division, Borthwick has recalled Henry Slade following a hip injury in place of Joe Marchant, with Ollie Lawrence, a late replacement against Scotland, alongside him in the centres.
Jack van Poortvliet is retained at scrum-half, with Alex Mitchell on the bench after Borthwick had already taken the decision earlier this week to drop veteran Ben Youngs from his matchday 23.
Jack Willis replaces the already dropped Ben Curry at openside flanker.
Italy, who named their team earlier on Friday, have yet to beat England.
They impressed in their tournament opener against champions France in Rome but lost 29-24.
"We welcome an exciting and in-form Italy team to Twickenham on Sunday," said Borthwick.
"Notwithstanding the disappointment of last weekend's Calcutta Cup result, we know that in a very short space of time positive steps have been taken towards the manner and style in which we want to play our rugby."
England (15-1)
Freddie Steward; Max Malins, Henry Slade, Ollie Lawrence, Ollie Hassell-Collins; Owen Farrell (capt), Jack van Poortvliet; Alex Dombrandt, Jack Willis, Lewis Ludlam; Ollie Chessum, Maro Itoje; Kyle Sinckler, Jamie George, Ellis Genge
Replacements: Jack Walker, Mako Vunipola, Dan Cole, Nick Isiekwe, Ben Earl, Alex Mitchell, Marcus Smith, Henry Arundell
Coach: Steve Borthwick (ENG)
