England 's Deacon handed Six Nations recall

Louis Deacon has been recalled to the England squad for the RBS 6 Nations as a replacement for banned Gloucester lock Dave Attwood.

The Leicester second row is one of two changes made by Martin Johnson, with the Wasps scrum-half Joe Simpson replacing his injured club-mate Dominic Waldouck.

Johnson has also added the Saracens-bound fly-half Charlie Hodgson into an expanded 33-man squad.

But the England management have delayed announcing the replacements for Northampton lock Courtney Lawes, who is out for three months with knee ligament damage, and Leicester’s Tom Croft.

The Northampton flanker Tom Wood and Harlequins captain Chris Robshaw are the leading contenders to come in for Croft, who suffered a fractured shoulder against South Africa in November.

Deacon has come in for Attwood, who will miss England’s fixtures against Wales and Italy after being banned for stamping during Gloucester’s Amlin Challenge Cup defeat to La Rochelle.

Johnson is set to confirm the injury replacements before England head to Portugal for their warm-weather training in the last week of January.

Deacon missed the summer tour of Australia and the autumn internationals with a back injury, which allowed Attwood to make his mark on the England scene.

The hard-edged Gloucester lock impressed Johnson Down Under and made his Test debut against the All Blacks in the autumn.

Deacon is back in form and he produced a man of the match performance in Leicester’s Aviva Premiership victory over leaders Northampton last weekend.

Attwood has been named in the England Saxons squad. Although he will miss both of their games he could return to the senior squad as Lawes’ replacement once his suspension expires.

Simpson’s inclusion is a surprise given he is the third scrum-half in the party and replaces a centre in Waldouck, although England now view Matt Banahan as Mike Tindall’s back-up.

Johnson has the facility to expand his squad to 33 players because Wilkinson, James Haskell and Tom Palmer are all based in France.

The Saxons squad includes Leicester fly-half Billy Twelvetrees and Northampton centre Jon Clarke and Saints lock Christian Day plus Harlequins prop Joe Marler and Sale loose-forward James Gaskell.

England's 33-man elite player squad for the 2011 RBS 6 Nations:

FORWARDS – George Chuter (Leicester Tigers), Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers), Tom Croft (Leicester Tigers), Louis Deacon (Leicester Tigers), Paul Doran-Jones (Gloucester), Nick Easter (Harlequins), Hendre Fourie (Leeds Carnegie), Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints), James Haskell (Stade Francais), Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints), Lewis Moody (Bath Rugby), Tom Palmer (Stade Francais), Tim Payne (London Wasps), Simon Shaw (London Wasps), Andrew Sheridan (Sale Sharks), Steve Thompson (Leeds Carnegie), David Wilson (Bath Rugby), Joe Worsley (London Wasps).

BACKS – Delon Armitage (London Irish), Chris Ashton (Northampton Saints), Matt Banahan (Bath Rugby), Danny Care (Harlequins), Mark Cueto (Sale Sharks), Toby Flood (Leicester Tigers), Riki Flutey (London Wasps), Ben Foden (Northampton Saints), Shontayne Hape (Bath Rugby), Charlie Hodgson (Sale Sharks), Joe Simpson (London Wasps), David Strettle (Saracens), Mike Tindall (Gloucester Rugby), Jonny Wilkinson (Toulon), Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers).

England Saxons squad for games against Italy A and the Irish Wolfhounds:

FORWARDS – Steffon Armitage (London Irish), David Attwood (Gloucester Rugby), Duncan Bell (Bath Rugby), Steve Borthwick (Saracens), Alex Corbisiero (London Irish), Jordan Crane (Leicester Tigers), Christian Day (Northampton Saints), Phil Dowson (Northampton Saints), James Gaskell (Sale Sharks), Joe Marler (Harlequins), Lee Mears (Bath Rugby), Matt Mullan (Worcester Warriors), Luke Narraway (Gloucester Rugby), Chris Robshaw (Harlequins), Andrew Saull (Saracens), Dan Ward-Smith (London Wasps), Rob Webber (London Wasps), Tom Wood (Northampton Saints).

BACKS – Nick Abendanon (Bath Rugby), Anthony Allen (Leicester Tigers), Brad Barritt (Saracens), Jon Clarke (Northampton Saints), Alex Goode (Saracens), Dan Hipkiss (Leicester Tigers), Paul Hodgson (London Irish), Ugo Monye (Harlequins), Stephen Myler (Northampton Saints), James Simpson-Daniel (Gloucester Rugby), Mathew Tait (Sale Sharks), Billy Twelvetrees (Leicester Tigers), Dominic Waldouck (London Wasps), Richard Wigglesworth (Saracens).