Joe Launchbury has backed the returning George Martin to make an instant impact in England’s Six Nations campaign.

The Leicester Tigers forward, 22, sat out wins over Italy and Wales in the opening two rounds due to a knee injury having impressed at the World Cup.

Read more: England Six Nations squad

He is back with the squad ahead of Saturday’s trip to Murrayfield, where England will look to reverse a run of three straight Calcutta Cup defeats, and Launchbury believes Steve Borthwick’s side can set the record straight.

“George Martin has a huge future and it’s great to see him back,” Launchbury said.

“He is versatile, he can play in either in the second row or the back row, and I’d like to see him back in the matchday squad so he can pick up where he left off.

“England have had the fixtures they would want so far and we have heard them talking in the week about how they need to be better.

“They will need to improve but winning games is all-important and going to Murrayfield is a great opportunity to build on this start and show what they can do.”

Manu Tuilagi is also back from injury for the trip to Edinburgh but Launchbury’s former England teammate Chris Ashton, who joined him in Cornwall for Newquay Hornets’ clash with St Just on Saturday as part of an RFU activation, believes the centre should be eased back in.

“I would put him on the bench, I don’t think you can throw him straight into the heat of a Test match,” Ashton said.

“England have been a touch fortunate so far but it’s great they have two wins.

“Murrayfield is a hard place to play, especially against a good Scotland team who will be disappointed by losing to France in the manner they did, so they will have to be right on their game.”

Launchbury and Ashton coached Newquay and St Just respectively in the build-up to the weekend’s contest, which doubled up as a league and cup encounter and was won 15-8 by the hosts with tries from Mitch Brownlow, Dan Hay and Max Badman.

The match was streamed live on England Rugby’s YouTube and social media channels, with the Cornish clubs selected due to their involvement in the Play Together Stay Together campaign.

“Rugby is so important in Cornwall and to have the cameras down meant a lot to them,” said Launchbury.

“As professional rugby players, we can be guilty of moaning about everything – the weather, how hard training is – and it was refreshing to see these guys roll up their sleeves and get on with it.”

Ashton added: “The weather was rubbish but it didn’t stop the lads getting stuck in.

“They were desperate to impress on the live stream, it gave them a bit more energy and desire to get out and play well.”

Play Together Stay Together is an England Rugby campaign to encourage people to get back into rugby. Want to get back to the action? Find your local rugby club using findrugby.com

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