England are prepared to roll out heavy hitters George Martin and Manu Tuilagi for their Six Nations scrap with Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday.
Fit-again powermongers Martin and Tuilagi could add significant gainline punch to England if included in the 23 to take on the Scots in Edinburgh.
Back-five forward Martin has beaten a knee problem and centre Tuilagi a groin concern, with both men adding serious power to the England ranks.
Ollie Lawrence can add even more physicality if called upon too, with the Bath star having beaten a hip injury.
Assistant coach Kevin Sinfield insisted England will relish the natural enmity that comes along with the fierce and old rivalry of squaring up to the Scots.
“There’s certainly going to be some niggle,” said Sinfield. “When you’ve got two angry, nasty forward packs wanting to go at each other, there’ll be some niggle.
“It’s a Test match, there’s a lot at stake, and we have only beaten them once in the last six matches.
“There will be some bits thrown at us over the next couple of days that we haven’t planned for or we haven’t quite expected.
“That’s the nature of top-level sport, understanding and watching the team evolve and grow and make the best of some of the circumstances we are faced with.”
Tuilagi has battled a string of groin issues across his career but has now shaken off the latest of those issues, which he picked up in December.
Sinfield insisted the 32-year-old can still return to the very heights of Test rugby, despite those prior setbacks and his advancing years.
“When you play like he has for so long, and you are so physical, it’s inevitable that at some point in your career you will have a run of injuries,” said Sinfield.
“With power-type players you tend to find that one injury can lead to another. Manu’s broken hand in the World Cup was bad luck, you can’t do much about those. We felt he was in a really good spot at that point as well.
“What I would say now is this, and without any doubt: don’t write him off yet.
“He’s still got some really good years ahead of him, and he’s very much a big part of how we move forward and what we are doing here.”
Leicester’s engine room enforcer Martin starred with a brutally physical performance for England in the 16-15 World Cup semi-final defeat by South Africa.
Sinfield believes the tough-tackling Tiger can now deliver a big impact on his return to fitness.
“He’s big, physical, aggressive; he’s a great ball carrier and he’s one of our better defenders,” said Sinfield, of Martin. “I’ve worked with him for a number of years now, here and at Leicester previously.
“You saw first-hand in the semi-final last year when he really stood out on the international stage against some of the biggest, nastiest, aggressive forwards in the world.
“He was really in and amongst it there and it’s great to have him back available.”
Martin remains equally effective at both lock and blindside flanker, and Sinfield has tipped the 22-year-old him for a long and fruitful Test career.
“The great thing is we’ve known he’s been capable of those levels for a couple of years,” said Sinfield. “He’s the type of guy that if you ask him to do something he just wants pointing in the right direction.
“He’s going to have a wonderful career. If selected at the weekend I’ve no doubt he’ll leave a mark on somebody. He’s already a top player but he’s going to get better and better.”
