London Irish centre Delon Armitage has promised to stay cool under fire when England Saxons take on Italy A in Sicily this Saturday (February 9).

Armitage has earned rave reviews with the Saxons who beat Ireland A last week and in the Guinness Premiership for his attack-minded approach to the game only for the occasional lapse in discipline to make the headlines too.

But the multi-talented Trinidad-born back - who kicked two penalties and converted his own try in England Saxons' 31-13 win over Ireland A at Leicester last Friday night - says a new approach is paying dividends.

"I've had to look myself in the mirror and say that's it, no more'," said Armitage, 24.

"I had to get the silly incidents out of my game if I wanted to progress and it's going well.

"I have been a back-up goal-kicker for London Irish and for England Saxons, and together with playing in the centre this season as well as in the back three it's given me more to do on the field and in turn helped me be more mature in my game.

"I'm more relaxed and concentrated on the field and though I had a yellow card for the club recently it spurred me on to say that would be the last one for a long while."

Armitage represented England's second string at the Barclays Churchill Cup in Canada in 2006 and again on home soil in 2007. This is the Saxons' second and final fixture in the current Six Nations Championship window but he does not see it as a last chance to impress.

"We're going to Italy to get a win and a good performance," Armitage said. "We are expecting the Italians to be strong in their own backyard, and we've heard the temperature will be in double figures which will make a welcome change.

"Then I will go back to London Irish where all the squad will be playing and training hard to earn selection for our Heineken Cup quarter-final in April.

"If you are playing well for your club you have the chance to make it with England."

A number of Saxons players have been released back to their clubs by head coach Steve Bates for the three Guinness Premiership matches this weekend, and scrum-half Lee Dickson and fly-half Shane Geraghty were called up to train with the senior England squad preparing to meet Italy in Rome on Sunday.

Making their England Saxons debut in a much-changed team against Italy A in Ragusa on Saturday evening will be Bristol prop Alex Clarke, Bath lock Peter Short and No. 8 Tom Guest of Harlequins plus wings Tom Biggs (Leeds Carnegie) and John Rudd (Newcastle Falcons).

"We want to play a structured game and all the boys have worked hard to get to know each other," said Armitage.

"There are some guys I have never played or trained with but we've got to know their footwork, whether they're good off the left or right hand and so on. The backs have done some hands drills and a good few moves, and training has gone well.

"I was back-up goal-kicker to Shane last week, when we beat a strong Irish side, and this week I'll be back-up to Adrian Jarvis. That's fine by me; if you get called upon and you kick a goal or two people say why weren't you doing it in the first place?'!

"Last week I was on the wing but I prefer full-back or centre. I'm in the centre against Italy A and in the No.13 slot you still get a lot of space to use your footwork without being as exposed as a full-back.

"I played at centre when I was a kid of about 13, and London Irish said for a while I might move there and this season it just happened because of injuries.

"Some of the guys in the London Irish academy are looking up to me now and I am not the young winger any more. I'm getting asked the questions about moves and how to play that I used to ask older players.

"I've got to keep up the good stuff."

England Saxons team to play Italy A: Saturday February 9, 2008 (6.15pm local time), Stadio Aldo Campo, Ragusa, Sicily.

15 Nick Abendanon (Bath Rugby) 14 John Rudd (Newcastle Falcons) 13 Delon Armitage (London Irish) 12 Alex Crockett (Bath Rugby) 11 Tom Biggs (Leeds Carnegie) 10 Adrian Jarvis (Harlequins) 9 Lee Dickson (Newcastle Falcons) 1 Alex Clarke (Bristol Rugby) 2 David Paice (London Irish) 3 Jason Hobson (Bristol Rugby) 4 Peter Short (Bath Rugby) 5 Nick Kennedy (London Irish) 6 Phil Dowson (Newcastle Falcons, captain) 7 Ben Woods (Newcastle Falcons) 8 Tom Guest (Harlequins) Replacements: 16 Andrew Long (Newcastle Falcons) 17 David Wilson (Newcastle Falcons)* 18 Andrew Springgay (Bayonne) 19 Will Skinner (Harlequins) 20 Danny Care (Harlequins) 21 Mike Brown (Harlequins) 22 Topsy Ojo (London Irish)