Nick Easter is back in the England mix © Getty Images

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Stuart Lancaster believes Nick Easter will add "real value" to England's Six Nations charge after the Harlequins No.8 was included in their 34-man squad for the championship.

Easter's inclusion sees him to return to the international fold after a four-year absence. He was part of the 2011 squad that endured a poor World Cup campaign and became a victim of the root-and-branch change Lancaster instigated when he took the England coaching job on an interim basis for the 2012 Six Nations.

Easter's last act in the England set-up was to be tarnished by the quip "that's £35,000 down the toilet" when Martin Johnson's side were sent packing by France. But since then Easter has turned in performances of the highest quality for Harlequins and the clamour for England to recall him was finally heard on Wednesday.

Harlequins coach Conor O'Shea has frequently trumpeted Easter's ability and talks between O'Shea and Lancaster led to the No.8 being re-integrated into the international set-up following Ben Morgan's injury.

"The last time I spoke to him face-to-face was 2011 and a fair amount of water has passed under the bridge since then," Lancaster said. "He was aware that his name was coming back into the frame and he was also aware that through my conversations with Conor that with Ben's injury he could get a chance. When I contacted him it wasn't a surprise as Conor had given him a heads up.

"We went back through time and went back to the World Cup and I gave him my thoughts on the team and about trying to build and investing caps and experience into the likes of Ben and Billy [Vunipola]. Who's to say that in 2011 he was still going to be playing as well as he is now in 2015.

"It's a great credit to him for doing that. The decision at the time was right as I look at Billy and Ben now and they have 40 or so caps between them. But now in a World Cup year and with Ben injured, the opportunity has risen. To me he expressed his desire at not finishing his England career on the 2011 World Cup and to come back and finish the story.

"Myself and Graham have talked long and hard about it and he has convinced me he will buy into us as a group and I think he'll add real value. He's got it all on to get in to the team as we know how well Billy is playing. You wouldn't rule him out though because of what he has done since 2011."

The crux of the current group of England players have been with Lancaster since 2012. Much of what the England coach did in the early days focused around improving the culture around the camp and Lancaster is confident Easter will slot straight into his blueprint despite having last played international rugby in 2011.

"What happened in 2011 is history but also we did draw a line under it pretty quickly in January 2012, we made the 15 changes to the squad. There were some difficult decisions to be made at the time. I'm very confident in the culture and the environment we've got now and the senior players who drive it.

"Someone like Nick can come and be a part of it and add to it. There were other people around the team, involved in 2011, who are in the team now and who have stayed in the team. A lot of the decision making at that time for me was about drawing a line obviously but, as importantly, I knew with 2015 coming around the corner, that we didn't have any other No.8 with any experience whatsoever.

"I knew Ben Morgan and obviously, with my academy hat on, I knew Billy Vunipola was going to emerge. That's why the challenge at the time, and still always has been, was to win and develop the team at the same time. And now I think the cycle of the team has reached a point where the development bit stops. It's about the winning."