Shoulder injury rules prop Stevens out

ENGLAND have suffered an injury blow ahead of tomorrow’s RBS 6 Nations Championship clash against Ireland with prop Matt Stevens out.

The Bath forward has suffered a recurrence of the shoulder injury which ruled him out of England’s 18-12 defeat by Scotland three weeks ago.

Stevens will be replaced in the front row by Leicester’s Julian White, one of five World Cup winners originally dropped for the game. Perry Freshwater is called up to the replacements’ bench.