The England manager, Martin Johnson, has called up the London Irish back-row Steffon Armitage, the brother of Test full-back Delon, to his elite player squad.

Steffon has been promoted from the second-string Saxons following the broken ankle suffered by Lewis Moody and Johnson said: "Steffon has been in very good form for London Irish this season and deserves his opportunity."

There has been an increasingly vocal lobby for the 23-year-old's first Test inclusion this season after a string of fine performances for the Exiles. However, he appeared a long shot to feature in the RBS 6 Nations, which begins in less than a fortnight, until the Leicester flanker Moody broke his ankle on Thursday - an injury that could rule out the 30-year-old for up to three months.

As well as Armitage, Johnson has also summoned Bath captain Michael Lipman to the elite squad's warm-weather training camp in Portugal. He is scheduled to fly out on Monday evening and will then be assessed by England's medics after being knocked out in Sunday's Heineken Cup clash with Toulouse.