England drop Ben Youngs for Italy clash as Steve…

England drop Ben Youngs for Italy clash as Steve Borthwick makes changes to squad

Ben Youngs, England's most-capped men's player, has been dropped by England for Sunday's Six Nations clash with Italy.

The Leicester scrum-half, with 122 caps to his name, makes way for Northampton rival Alex Mitchell in Steve Borthwick's 29-man squad.

Also out are Ben Curry, who made his Six Nations debut against Scotland - suggesting Jack Willis will get the start this weekend.

Anthony Watson, who came off the bench in the Calcutta Cup, is another to make way - replaced by fit-again Henry Arundell.

England take on Italy at Twickenham on Sunday knowing a win is a necessity ahead of trips to Wales and Ireland, with the home clash with France also on the horizon.

Speaking after the disappointing defeat to Scotland, Borthwick admitted he knew he had a big task on his hands when replacing Eddie Jones.

"When I looked at the team in the autumn, when I measured the team and got all the data for the team, we weren't good at anything. It was as frank as that," he said.

"So we are trying to build some strengths in this team and some bits we are pleased about and some bits we are disappointed about. My job is to make sure we get some improvements for Italy."