White gets call to replace Stevens

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The 35-year-old returns to the England fold for the first time since making himself unavailable for the 2007 World Cup campaign and replaces Stevens, who was removed from the England squad on Tuesday, after it was revealed he had failed a drugs test.

England team manager Martin Johnson said: "Julian is an experienced international. He has had time out of the England set-up but he is in good form and is ready to make the step back up to the senior squad."

White, a former club and international team-mate of Johnson's, had originally been included in the England Saxons squad. His place will now be taken by the promising young London Irish prop Alex Corbisiero.

Johnson added: "Alex was one of the outstanding players in the under-20s side that reached the final of the Junior World Championship last year.

"He has had an outstanding season for London Irish, and it's the right time to bring him into the Saxons."

White, widely regarded as one of the most destructive set-piece operators in England, will now compete with Phil Vickery for the red rose tight-head jersey he last wore against Wales in the 2007 Six Nations.

He made himself unavailable for the 2007 World Cup during a pre-tournament training camp on the grounds that he could not afford to spend several weeks away from his young family or his farm.

White, who describes that as the hardest decision he ever had to make, never retired from international rugby but remained off the England radar until Johnson last week named him in the Saxons squad.

Leicester coach Richard Cockerill believes White is enjoying some of the best form of his career and claimed recently: "I do not know of a better tight-head than him in the Guinness Premiership, if not the world."