Six Nations: England's Marcus Smith in contention to face Ireland after calf injury

Marcus Smith with England physio Bob Stewart during an open training session last month

Marcus Smith has returned to England's squad and is in contention to face Ireland in the Six Nations on Saturday.

Harlequins fly-half Smith, 25, is yet to feature in the tournament due to a calf injury.

Scrum-half Alex Mitchell is also available after a knee problem which ruled him out of the defeat by Scotland at Murrayfield.

England take on Grand Slam chasing Ireland at Twickenham at 16:45 GMT on Saturday.

Smith was in line to play a leading role in the Six Nations but picked up a calf injury in training before the opener against Italy at the start of February.

In his absence, Sale's George Ford wore the number 10 shirt for England's three games so far, with Northampton's Fin Smith making his first international appearances off the bench.

Head coach Steve Borthwick now faces a decision about whether to bring Marcus Smith straight back into the fold for the visit of the unbeaten Irish.

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Meanwhile, Mitchell established himself as England's first-choice number nine at last autumn's World Cup and is expected to return to the matchday squad if he is able to prove his sharpness in training this week.

Mitchell's return means Harry Randall drops out of the wider 36-man group, with Danny Care and Ben Spencer the other scrum-halves.

Wing Immanuel Feyi-Waboso also returns to the squad after missing last week's training camp because of a university exam.

'Ireland used to being favourites'

England's Six Nations campaign was derailed by a deflating 30-21 defeat to Scotland at Murrayfield, with Borthwick's side now needing to beat Ireland or France to salvage their campaign.

But with the visitors heavy favourites this weekend, Ireland great Jamie Heaslip told the Rugby Union Daily podcast he is struggling to see an upset at Twickenham.

Ireland have won their past four Tests against England and have won at Twickenham five times in the Six Nations era.

"I think England have got amazingly talented players, I just don't think the English side are playing to the strengths of those players," Heaslip said.

"I think they are playing a style that doesn't suit them, and I think Ireland are going to exploit a lot of the chinks in the armour there.

"The mantle of Ireland being the favourites does not irk these guys, they are well used to that.

"They are not going to fear coming there [Twickenham], they have won there consistently and they have beaten England consistently over the last period.

"But they have been in the position England are in and they are fully aware people can pull it out of the bag. That is why the complacency won't set in."

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