Centre Riki Flutey and tight-head prop Dan Cole will start for England in Rome on Sunday © Getty Images

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Head to Head: England protecting unbeaten record

Matches: Italy 12 - 17 England

Players/Officials: Dan Cole | Riki Flutey

Tournaments/Tours: Six Nations

Teams: England | Italy

Grounds: Twickenham Stadium

Leicester tight-head prop Dan Cole will make his full England debut in Sunday's Six Nations clash with Italy in Rome.

England manager Martin Johnson has promoted the 22-year-old into the starting line-up to replace Bath's David Wilson, who has been struggling with a shoulder injury since last weekend's 30-17 victory over Wales. Brive centre Riki Flutey returns from injury in the only other change from the side that beat Wales in their Championship opener at Twickenham last weekend.

Cole made his Test debut off the bench at Twickenham after forcing his way into the senior England squad with a series of destructive performances in the Tigers' front row. Flutey had originally been named in the team last week but he was forced to withdraw two days before the game after picking up a dead leg in training.

Johnson has delayed the announcement of his replacements as he waits on a number of injury issues. Captain Steve Borthwick has missed training for the last two days and has been isolated from the rest of the squad after being laid low with an illness. Wilson and Lewis Moody were both in non-contact jerseys at training today while Simon Shaw also sat out the session. Johnson has kept Harlequins flanker Chris Robshaw, Northampton lock Courtney Lawes and Worcester prop Matt Mullan with the squad

Italy coach Nick Mallett has made two changes to his starting line-up as they look to bounce back from their defeat to Ireland. Kaine Robertson drops to the bench with Andrea Masi taking his place at number 14, while Gloucester lock Marco Bortolami replaces Carlo Antonio Del Fava from the starting XV that lost 29-11 in Ireland last weekend.

Del Fava is set to undergo surgery on his right knee after sustaining damage to his meniscus during training this week, and looks set to be sidelined for a month. The Azzurri welcome back Valerio Bernabo after a two-year absence in the only change to the bench.

Bernabo takes injured scrum-half Simone Picone's place among the replacements. Picone suffered a muscular injury during his team's opening loss at Croke Park.

Italy: L McLean (Benetton Treviso); A Masi (Racing Metro Paris), G Canale (Clermont-Auvergne), G Garcia (Benetton Treviso), Mirco Bergamasco (Stade Francais); C Gower (Bayonne), T Tebaldi (Gran Parma); S Perugini (Bayonne), L Ghiraldini (Benetton Treviso), M Castrogiovanni (Leicester Tigers), Q Geldenhuys (Viadana), M Bortolami (Gloucester), J Sole (Viadana), Mauro Bergamasco (Stade Francais), A Zanni (Benetton Treviso).

Replacements: F Ongaro (Saracens), M Aguero (Saracens), V Bernabo (Futuro Park Roma), P Derbyshire (Petrarca Padova), P Canavosio (Viadana), R Bocchino (Rovigo), K Robertson (Viadana).

England: D Armitage (London Irish); M Cueto (Sale Sharks), M Tait (Sale Sharks), R Flutey (Brive), U Monye (Harlequins); J Wilkinson (Toulon), D Care (Harlequins); T Payne (Wasps), D Hartley (Northampton), D Cole (Leicester), S Shaw (Wasps), S Borthwick (Saracens, capt), J Haskell (Stade Francais), L Moody (Leicester), N Easter (Harlequins).

Replacements: S Thompson (Brive), D Wilson (Bath), M Mullan (Worcester), Louis Deacon (Leicester), S Armitage (London Irish), P Hodgson (London Irish)

Referee: Christophe Berdos (France)

Assistant referees: Romain Poite (Fra), Pascal Gauzere (Fra)
Television Match Official: Hugh Watkins (Wal)