Gloucester number eight Luke Narraway will make his Test debut in a surprise selection for championship opener against Wales at Twickenham.
The 24-year-old was left out of England boss Brian Ashton's initial Six Nations training squad. But he was summoned to Twickenham last week as injury cover, and now goes straight into the team alongside back-row colleagues James Haskell and Lewis Moody.
Harlequins number eight Nick Easter, a regular selection during the Ashton regime, has been battling to overcome a knee injury.
Narraway's Gloucester colleague Iain Balshaw is recalled at full-back for his first England appearance since last summer's tour of South Africa.
It means no place for Mathew Tait — England's best player in the World Cup final three months ago — either at full-back or outside centre, where Gloucester's Mike Tindall returns.
Tait had a poor game in the number 15 shirt for Newcastle against Guinness Premiership opponents Leicester last Saturday, and he looks to have paid a hefty price. He does not even feature among the replacements.
Elsewhere, Gloucester wing and former Bradford Bulls rugby league star Lesley Vainikolo is named on the bench alongside fellow uncapped back, Wasps fly-half Danny Cipriani.
Narraway is among seven players selected for the Six Nations kick-off who did not start England's last game, the World Cup final against South Africa in Paris on October 20th.
The others are Balshaw, Tindall, his midfield partner Toby Flood, wing David Strettle, Bath lock Steve Borthwick and rising Wasps star Haskell.
England: I Balshaw (Gloucester); P Sackey (Wasps), M Tindall (Gloucester), T Flood (Newcastle), D Strettle (Harlequins); J Wilkinson (Newcastle), A Gomarsall (Harlequins); A Sheridan (Sale Sharks), M Regan (Bristol), P Vickery (Wasps, capt), S Shaw (Wasps), S Borthwick (Bath), J Haskell (Wasps), L Moody (Leicester), L Narraway (Gloucester). Replacements: L Mears (Bath), M Stevens (Bath), B Kay (Leicester), T Rees (Wasps), R Wigglesworth (Sale Sharks), D Cipriani (Wasps), L Vainikolo (Gloucester).
