HARRY ELLIS will start his first game for England in over two years tomorrow after replacing the injured Danny Care and admits: “I am gagging for a game.” The Leicester scrumhalf was confirmed in the side to face Italy after Care failed to recover from the strained ankle ligaments he suffered by slipping on ice at England’s training base.

Team manager Martin Johnson opted to parachute Ellis straight into the side for his first start since England’s defeat to Wales in 2007 and keep Northampton’s Ben Foden on the bench.

Ellis has not played a full match this year after serving a six-week suspension for his dangerous tackle on Perpignan outhalf Dan Carter in a Heineken Cup match.

But he made his comeback for the Saxons in last weekend’s 66-0 win over Portugal and insists he is ready to play. “It has been a while since I started a game for England”, said Ellis. “My fitness is really good. We made the most of my six weeks off and I trained really hard pretty much every day over Christmas.”

Ellis had established himself as England’s first-choice scrumhalf during the 2007 Six Nations before a ruptured knee ligament ruled him out of the World Cup and last year’s championship.

Meanwhile, France’s scrum has a score to settle when they come up against Ireland’s pack according to Les Bleus prop Lionel Faure.

In last year’s Six Nations, the French defeated Ireland 26-21 at the Stade de France but their pack suffered the ignominy of conceding a penalty try in the second half after collapsing under pressure near their own line.

At the time, coach Marc Lievremont was chopping and changing his forwards at will, picking some inexperienced players who were clearly out of depth on the international scene.

Lievremont has since settled on his best team and the scrum has improved as a result. However, Faure has not forgotten about the blow to the pride struck by the Irish last February.

“When we played against Ireland in the last Six Nations, it was quite a bad point for us because we conceded that penalty try,” the Sale Sharks prop said. “Our scrum is getting better, though, I think. We are working very, very hard on it and I am sure we will keep going in the right direction.”