Toby Flood has been released to play for Leicester this weekend - but Lee Dickson is still part of England's plans for the clash with Italy.
Flood made his comeback from knee ligament damage for the Tigers last Saturday and he spent the last two days training with the national team.
But interim coach England coach Stuart Lancaster has decided fly-half Flood needs another game under his belt before making his Test return and released him to play for Leicester against Exeter.
Charlie Hodgson was limited to non-contact work in training as he recovers from a blow to the shoulder but he is set to retain his place at fly-half for the game at the Stadio Olimpico.
Dickson was initially expected to be sidelined for four weeks after fracturing a bone in his hand during his Test debut off the bench in England's 13-6 win against Scotland.
But the Northampton scrum-half, described as "Lazarus" by coach Andy Farrell, trained with the squad on Tuesday and is one of three scrum-halves retained in the 24-man squad that will fly to Rome.
Joe Simpson has joined Ben Youngs and Dickson in the trimmed-down squad, replacing Gloucester wing Charlie Sharples as the only change to the squad that travelled to Edinburgh last weekend.
Lancaster will finalise his 22-man match-day squad to face Italy on Thursday morning, before the squad travel to Rome.
Sharples, who missed out on the final 22 last week, joins Flood as one of eight players released for Aviva Premiership action this weekend, along with Dave Attwood, Matt Banahan, Calum Clark, Karl Dickson, Lee Mears and Thomas Waldrom.
Dickson is clearly being given time to prove his fitness. The only likely changes to England's matchday squad to face Italy would be if Simpson is preferred as the second scrum-half and if Lancaster opts to put five forwards on the bench.
England did exactly that two years ago, when Worcester's loosehead prop Matt Mullan made his Test debut off the bench, and Harlequins' Joe Marler could be in that same position this weekend.
Farrell insisted competition was also strong for places in England's starting line-up, with Scarlets' Ben Morgan among those pressing for a promotion from the bench.
"Competition for places is at its premium really," Farrell said.
"We have to make sure our bench is right. The bench was great at the weekend - they came on and made a difference, upped the energy of the team.
"There are decisions to make in the back row, in the front row - all over the park."
England staged a full-contact training session on Tuesday afternoon in a bid to tighten up their new defensive system and finalise some of those selection thoughts.
