Six Nations 2022: England forward Courtney Lawes declared fit to face Wales

Courtney Lawes missed England's defeat by Scotland and victory over Italy

England forward Courtney Lawes has been declared fit to face Wales in the Six Nations next Saturday.

Lawes, 32, has yet to play in this year's Championship because of concussion.

But he came through training on Friday and is now in line to make his return against the Welsh at Twickenham on 26 February.

"Courtney trained fully today, which is really good news," said England assistant coach Anthony Seibold.

"He's had a good preparation this week and a really thorough return-to-train protocol in place."

Lawes, who has 90 caps, has become one of England's key leaders in recent years, and stood in to captain the side in the autumn when regular skipper Owen Farrell was injured.

However, a concussion suffered for Northampton Saints in mid-January ruled him out of the first two Six Nations matches, with Tom Curry leading the side in his and Farrell's absence.

"The autumn series was the first time I worked with Courtney and he took over from Owen and did a tremendous job," added Seibold.

"He leads by his actions and I'm super impressed with what he does on both sides of the ball, but defensively in a lot of ways he is a real leader for us.

"So to have him back in the group training today significantly raises our standard because we have a highly intelligent defensive player who is full of effort."

After being beaten by Scotland in round one, before dispatching Italy a week later, England have some major reinforcements for the pivotal Wales clash.

As well as Lawes, centre Manu Tuilagi is back in the squad and is expected to start after proving his fitness, while lock Joe Launchbury is also in line for a return after not featuring since the autumn of 2020.

Six Nations Rugby Special is on BBC Two from 18:00 on Sunday, 27 February