Johnson recalled by England

Stuart Lancaster named Tom Johnson in his 23-man squad to prepare for Sunday's Six Nations match against Wales at Twickenham Stadium.

The Exeter Chiefs back row forward, who last appeared in a Test for England against Australia in 2012, is retained in place of Saracens No.8 Billy Vunipola – ruled out of the rest of the tournament with an ankle injury.

The remainder of the group is unchanged, with the England coach firm in his conviction that the same group deserve the chance to continue after impressing in the 13-10 victory over Ireland at Twickenham.

Also outlining that Matt Mullan and Manu Tuilagi will train with the match-day squad on Friday, he said: "The performance against Ireland has given us a lot of confidence going into this game against a high quality Welsh team and we feel it's right to give the bulk of that 23 another opportunity.

"Tom Johnson has trained with us throughout and we are looking forward to his contribution.

"There is a lot of competition for places and to have Marland and Manu back training with us this week has been great.

"With Leicester and Wasps not involved in the LV= Cup semifinals this weekend we are able to keep Matt Mullan to provide cover in the front row and also to give Manu more time to get up to speed with the team."

Returning to their Premiership clubs: Chris Ashton (Saracens), Brad Barritt (Saracens), Freddie Burns (Gloucester), Kyle Eastmond (Bath), Matt Kvesic (Gloucester), Ed Slater (Leicester Tigers), Anthony Watson (Bath), Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers).

England squad:

Forwards: David Attwood (Bath), Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints), Tom Johnson (Exeter Chiefs), Joe Launchbury (London Wasps), Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints), Joe Marler (Harlequins), Ben Morgan (Gloucester), Chris Robshaw (Harlequins), Henry Thomas (Sale Sharks), Mako Vunipola (Saracens), David Wilson (Bath), Tom Wood (Northampton Saints), Tom Youngs (Leicester Tigers).

Backs: Mike Brown (Harlequins), Luther Burrell (Northampton Saints), Danny Care (Harlequins), Lee Dickson (Northampton Saints), Owen Farrell (Saracens), George Ford (Bath), Alex Goode (Saracens), Jonny May (Gloucester), Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs), Billy Twelvetrees (Gloucester).

Date: Sunday, March 9

Venue: Twickenham, London

Kick-off: 15.00 (15.00 GMT)

Referee: Romain Poite (France)

Assistant referees: Steve Walsh (Australia), Lourens van der Merwe (South Africa)

TMO: Simon McDowell (Ireland)