England waiting on No. 8 Corry and Iain Balshaw

England coach Brian Ashton expects No. 8 Martin Corry to be fit for Saturday's Six Nations match against Italy at Twickenham even though the former captain has had an arm infection.

But he was less certain about the prospects for Iain Balshaw.

The injury-prone full-back's groin problem saw him miss last weekend's 42-20 win in the world champions' Six Nations opener against Scotland, where his place was taken by England debutant Olly Morgan.

Balshaw will need to come through a training session here Wednesday otherwise Gloucester team-mate Morgan will stay in the starting XV.

"Martin has got an infection in his arm, and he is on a course of antibiotics. We are not concerned at this stage," Ashton told reporters at England's training base in Bath on Tuesday.

As for Balshaw, he added: "All the signs are he is going to be fine to take a full part in training tomorrow [yesterday].

"He's got to come through that, and if he doesn't, we will put Olly Morgan back in. It wasn't the easiest decision [recalling Balshaw]. When you bring a young player in at very short notice for his first cap and then he has a half-decent game, it is always a difficult conversation to turn around and say `thanks very much, the other guy is fit again,'" Ashton said.

"But Iain Balshaw was the guy we selected on form for the first game and if he's back and fit again this week, then it is a natural selection to put him back in there again," he said.

Although the squad's attention is firmly focused on defeating an Italy side thrashed 39-3 in Rome by France last weekend, fans were still coming to terms with Jonny Wilkinson's astonishing return to England duty against Scotland.

Injuries had meant that, until last Saturday, Wilkinson hadn't played a Test for England since kicking the winning drop-goal in the 2003 World Cup final.

But the Newcastle outside-half's comeback saw him set a Calcutta Cup individual match record of 27 points featuring a full set of scores.

"He told me that physically and mentally he was fine, but to actually put it all together like that was quite a performance," Ashton said.