World Cup winner Mike Tindall was recalled to the England team to play defending champions Wales in their Six Nations international at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, on Saturday.

The Gloucester centre, who came in for Jamie Noon, was due to play in the side that beat Italy 36-11 in their tournament opener at Twickenham last weekend but injured his back lifting weights on the eve of the match.

"It is nice to have him back - and we hope he will last until Saturday!" England manager Martin Johnson told reporters at the squad's hotel on Tuesday.

Johnson's other change to his starting line-up saw experienced Wasps back-row Joe Worsley selected for what would be his first England start since the group stages of the 2007 World Cup.

Worsley, 31 replaced Steffon Armitage, who made his England debut last weekend, after coming on for the London Irish open-side flanker in the second-half against Italy.

Normally a blind-side flanker, Worsley was only added to England's squad after injuries to open-sides Tom Rees, Lewis Moody and Michael Lipman.

"Joe has been playing very well," said Johnson of the 68-times capped Worsley. "He is a very experienced player, a big tackler and a big carrier.

"His form has been great all year, and we thought it was the right game for him to come and play.

"It was a tough call. Steffon played there last week. He has taken his first step in international rugby and he has a bright future.

"But we think Joe is the right guy for what we want to do."

Johnson made three changes on the bench, Luke Narraway taking Worsley's position among the substitutes while Paul Hodgson was called up as scrum-half cover for Harry Ellis and the fit-again Toby Flood became the inside back replacement instead of Shane Geraghty.

There was no place again in the 22 for Danny Cipriani, left out of the matchday squad against Italy, with Andy Goode keeping his place at fly-half after scoring a try on his return to Test action last weekend.

England's performance against Italy was widely regarded as several notches below that achieved both by grand slam title-holders Wales in their 26-13 win away to Scotland and Ireland in their dramatic 30-21 victory over France.

"The tempo of those games was pretty high," said Johnson, England's 2003 Word Cup winning captain.

"We were frustrated we got bogged down a bit. But there are reasons for that, the mistakes we made and the opposition we are up against.

"We won the last game, and I would like to keep our fortunes heading in the same direction. "We know as a squad we can play better than we did last week," the former lock insisted.

Johnson, the only man to captain the British and Irish Lions on two tours, said he was relishing the prospect of his side taking on Wales.

"I am looking forward to going away from home, and the pressure and intensity will be a big test for our team.

"The Welsh enjoy having a successful rugby team, and they are playing some attractive rugby - so it will be double difficult.

"We don't have that much expectation - and we need to go there and fight. We can also play - but we need to battle and quieten the crowd down."

Wales coach Warren Gatland had been due to name his team on Tuesday but injuries to several key players led the New Zealander to delay his announcement until Thursday.

England: Delon Armitage; Paul Sackey, Mike Tindall, Riki Flutey, Mark Cueto; Andy Goode, Harry Ellis; Nick Easter, Joe Worsley, James Haskell; Nick Kennedy, Steve Borthwick (capt); Phil Vickery, Lee Mears, Andrew Sheridan. Res: Dylan Hartley, Julian White, Tom Croft, Luke Narraway, Paul Hodgson, Toby Flood, Mathew Tait

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