England coach Clive Woodward today made two changes to the front row for Saturday's Test against Australia in Melbourne by promoting Gloucester props Phil Vickery and Trevor Woodman into the starting XV.
Even the heroic efforts of Jason Leonard and Graham Rowntree against New Zealand could not persuade Woodward to alter his strategy of giving all four touring props a Test run-out.
For the first time, Woodward admitted to making his selection with an eye firmly on the World Cup and said he wanted to give Vickery and Woodman, who have both missed large chunks of the season, some significant game time.
"The thing I want to stress is that we had virtually made our mind up before we came on the trip how we were going to run the front rows," he said.
"It is a very tough call to leave out Rowntree and Leonard after they played so well, but whether we won or not against the All Blacks I was going to change the front row.
After England's historic victory over the All Blacks, Kyran Bracken retained his place at scrum-half despite Matt Dawson's return to fitness.
Josh Lewsey, who required stitches in a head wound after being stamped on in Wellington, will start at full-back in what will be his first international appearance against Australia.