England face Calcutta Cup conundrum with returning centres

England have confirmed that they’ll have centre partnership headaches ahead of this weekend’s Calcutta Cup clash with Scotland after the return of both Manu Tuilagi and Ollie Lawrence this week.

Steve Borthwick’s side have previously used Fraser Dingwall and Henry Slade in the centres for their wins against both Italy and Wales but could use the destructive returning duo in Edinburgh this weekend.

Tuilagi has long been a stalwart of the England set up and has been wearing the white shirt for over a decade, but has been hampered with injuries during that time.

Lawrence has shone for club Bath after originally impressing at the now defunct Worcester Warriors.

England power

“Ollie and Manu bring power,” assistant coach Sinfield said.

“Fraser and Henry offer a bit more ball movement and a bit more finesse at the line but what Manu and Ollie bring is they will kick the door down.

“It’s about trying to find the right balance for us this weekend. Ollie and Manu haven’t been in with us that long but we know them pretty well from the World Cup and what they’ve done previously.

“Then there’s the experience of Henry and Fraser’s ball skills and game management in and around that midfield, so we’ve got a real healthy competition there.”

England and Scotland have played 126 times in this Calcutta Cup fixture with this weekend’s away side winning 70 of those to Scotland’s 42.

England have scored 238 tries to Scotland’s 167 in this fixture but the Murrayfield team have won the last three editions of this match while before 2018 England had won seven in a row.

Elsewhere

Elsewhere in this weekend’s Six Nations Wales travel to Ireland having lost their opening two matches thus far in the campaign.

Sam Costelow has returned to the starting XV at No10 in the only change to the 15 that began the loss to England in round two.

Ireland remain favourites for the title having gone unbeaten through two rounds, including an opening fixture victory against France.

On Sunday Les Bleus take on Italy in a continental clash that could reignite France’s Six Nations campaign after their opening two matches saw mixed results, while the Azzurri are looking for their first win of the tournament thus far.