We are now only a few days away from the Six Nations opener as England take on Italy at Twickenham. It will hopefully be the start of better fortunes for Martin Johnson’s side, but one man that won’t be able to influence this is Danny Cipriani.

The 21-year-old has been left out of England’s revised squad for the Italy game and will instead play for the England Saxons against Ireland in Dublin on Friday. He will be joined by Harry Ellis in the Saxons squad who was also par of Johnson’s original squad for the Six Nations.

Speaking about the omission of these two players, the England coach said that both of them are in his ‘plans for the Six Nations’, but that he wants to see them get some ‘game time’ for the Saxons.

Johnson then revealed how Ellis ‘benefited’ from playing with them last week and that he will be in constant contact with the Saxons coach to see how his two players are doing.

As for Cipriani, well this is something new for him and is the latest in a rather eventful spell for him and his England selection. The Wasps man returned from six months out injured to play in the first three of England’s November Internationals, but he was far from at his best.

Cipriani was inconsistent, often had his kicks charged down and paid the price by being dropped for the final autumn test against New Zealand. Since then, he has worked hard to get back in favour with England. However, the news that he will not feature against Italy shows that he has plenty to do as yet.

What he needs to do is keep his head down, perform well for the Saxons and make sure he reminds Johnson what he is capable of. The decision could actually do him some good, because if he came back into the England side immediately and made more mistakes, the aftermath would do him no good whatsoever.

Elsewhere, Andy Goode, James Simpson-Daniel and uncapped Saracens prop Tom Mercey are the men who have been called up to the senior England camp ahead of a game that the rugby odds fully expect the home side to win. Italy have never beaten England in the Six Nations, after all.

In terms of team news, Toby Flood is likely to wear the number 10 shirt with Steffon Armitage set to operate at flanker in this new-look team. He is set to play alongside James Haskell and Nick Easter in the England pack. Other significant news is that Mike Tindall and Andrew Sheridan will be recalled.

Finally for today, it is worth noting that the England team could contain two brothers for the first time since Rory and Tony Underwood played together 14 years ago. Flanker Steffon Armitage is expected to be joined by his brother Delon who has already made a couple of appearances for England at full-back.

By Thomas Rooney – a sports writer for Betfair – check them out for Grand National Betting

Danny is Left Out