Ireland arrive at Adams Park on Friday looking to secure at Grand Slam, but despite suffering a 12-8 loss to France last time out England have their sights set on a second successive RBS 6 Nations title, with victory almost certain to hand them the title thanks to an impressive points difference of +118.

With this carrot dangling in front of them Hunter has brought Heathcote in at No.10 for his first start, the Bath starlet becoming the fifth England fly-half of this year’s tournament in as many games.

Gloucester’s Ryan Mills returns to inside centre and there are also first starts for Sale’s Will Addison and Wasps prop Alec Hepburn.

And head coach Hunter admits he is excited at the prospect of finally seeing Heathcote in an England No.10 jersey.

“It’s a shame that we haven’t had a chance to see Tom at 10 sooner, but by the same token it’s fantastic that he’s been playing for Bath and doing very well,” he said.

“It’s great to get him in the shirt, we have had a lot of changes in that position, and on the one hand you would maybe prefer to have a more settled side, but on the other it bodes well to have such strength in depth.

“We’re happy with where we are as a side. We learnt a lot of tough lessons against France last weekend and we’ll be looking to bounce back against what is a very organised, good quality Irish side.

“Ireland are going for the Grand Slam but our focus is on ourselves, we’ve got things that we need to fix up as we build towards the IRB Junior World Championship.

“Saying that, we know what is at stake for both teams on Friday, but the main motivation is to perform better than we did last week.”

England
15. Anthony Watson (London Irish)
14. Marland Yarde (London Irish)
13. Will Addison (Sale Sharks)
12. Ryan Mills (Gloucester Rugby)
11. Charlie Walker (Harlequins)
10. Tom Heathcote (Bath Rugby)
9. Dan Robson (Gloucester Rugby)
1. Alec Hepburn (London Wasps)
2. Koree Britton (Gloucester Rugby)
3. Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins)
4. Tom Price (Leicester Tigers)
5. Dom Barrow (Leeds Carnegie)
6. Matt Kvesic (Worcester Warriors)
7. Chris Walker (Leeds Carnegie)
8. Jack Clifford (Harlequins)

Replacements
16. Nathan Morris (London Wasps)
17. Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs)
18. Ross Harrison (Sale Sharks)
19. George Merrick (Harlequins)
20. David Sisi (London Irish)
21. Ben Spencer (Saracens)
22. Sam Hill (Exeter Chiefs)
23. Ben Ransom (Saracens)