Thursday 31 January 2019 15:59, UK
England captain Owen Farrell says the entire team are excited Manu Tuilagi has been named in the starting line-up for Saturday's opening Six Nations game against Ireland.
In the absence of the injured Ben Te'o, Tuilagi has been named at inside centre in what will be his first start for his country since June, 2014.
Tuilagi has been severely hampered by injuries in recent seasons but Farrell is impressed with how he has battled his way back into the England team.
"Obviously, everyone is excited to play with Manu," Farrell told Sky Sports News.
"The good thing about getting the chance to play with him in the autumn was to see how excited he was to be back in an England shirt.
"He had a massive smile on his face when he was coming onto the pitch and I cannot see it being any different at the weekend. Our job is to allow him to get the best out of himself.
"I can imagine he has had some tough times but the credit to him is that he has stuck right at it and stayed positive enough to get himself back into this position."
England will go to Dublin as underdogs against an Ireland team in a rich vein of form after 18 wins from their last 19 matches.
But Farrell insists England are fully confident in their ability to succeed where New Zealand could not in November by winning in the Aviva Stadium.
"We are playing away to the second-best in the world at the minute, who have come off the back of a couple of big, big wins," Farrell said.
"And I am sure they are very confident, as well as working hard to prepare for this game themselves.
"But we are excited for the challenge. We are a team that think they can beat anyone so we are looking forward to going there."
