ENGLAND TOUR TO AUSTRALIA:MARTIN JOHNSON, last seen in Australia hoisting aloft the 2003 Rugby World Cup, said yesterday England will fly out for two Tests against the Wallabies with their strongest touring squad since he retired as a player.
It is not a particularly bold claim given England’s reputation for sending below-strength teams to the Southern Hemisphere but the 44-man party is effectively the best available.
With nine uncapped players included and recalls for Olly Barkley, Charlie Hodgson, David Strettle, David Flatman and Richard Wigglesworth, Johnson hopes several individuals will seize the chance to stake a claim for next year’s World Cup in New Zealand.
This is England’s last tour before that tournament and there is a collective desire to make the most of it, starting against the Barbarians on May 30th.
While Steve Borthwick is a confirmed non-starter because of a knee problem there is still no official captain, although Lewis Moody is set to remain in the post if he emerges unscathed from this weekend’s Premiership semi-final between Leicester and Bath.
With Borthwick, Riki Flutey, Phil Vickery, Matt Mullan and Louis Deacon all out for fitness-related reasons, the task of whittling down the squad to 32 in July will be tricky.
Among those with the greatest incentive are the six uncapped forwards. Three locks – Dan Ward-Smith of Wasps, the 23-year-old Gloucester giant Dave Attwood and Leicester’s Geoff Parling – will all have a chance to stake a claim in Borthwick’s absence, as will two new frontrow faces, the Newcastle loosehead Jon Golding and the Wasps hooker Rob Webber.
Two more Wasps, Joe Simpson and Dom Waldouck, feature alongside Bath’s Shontayne Hape, whose planned Test debut during the Six Nations had to be postponed because of illness. “We want to give guys opportunities, we’re not taking them to hold tackle bags,” Johnson said.
For Hodgson, who was effectively told his England career was over following a chastening Test in Auckland two years ago, it is truly a story of redemption but others have been less fortunate. Jordan Crane, Jamie Noon, Dan Hipkiss and Olly Morgan do not feature in either tour party, while London Irish’s Paul Hodgson, the starting number nine in the autumn, finds himself back on Churchill Cup duty. Also in the Saxons ranks are Tom Rees, who has played very little rugby this season, James Simpson-Daniel, Phil Dowson and Saracens’ Alex Goode.
The Australia-bound Danny Cipriani, whose season is over after breaking his right thumb, would have been omitted even if he had been fit.
Johnson made clear the outhalf will not be considered again until he rejoins a European club.
“We felt we’d give the opportunity to players who were going to be playing here in September,” Johnson said crisply.
Negotiations to resolve the dispute over the players’ tour fees will continue over the next few days. Guardian Service
ENGLAND (squad for five-match tour of Australia and New Zealand in June): Backs: D Armitage (London Irish), C Ashton (Northampton), M Banahan (Bath), O Barkley (Bath), D Care (Harlequins), M Cueto (Sale Sharks), T Flood (Leicester), B Foden (Northampton), S Geraghty (Northampton), S Hape (Bath), C Hodgson (Sale Sharks), U Monye (Harlequins), J Simpson (Wasps), D Strettle (Harlequins), M Tait (Sale Sharks), M Tindall (Gloucester), D Waldouck (Wasps), R Wigglesworth (Sale Sharks), J Wilkinson (Toulon), B Youngs (Leicester).
Forwards: S Armitage (London Irish), D Attwood (Gloucester), D Cole (Leicester), T Croft (Leicester), P Doran-Jones (Gloucester), N Easter (Harlequins), D Flatman (Bath), H Fourie (Leeds Carnegie), J Golding (Newcastle), D Hartley (Northampton), J Haskell (Stade Francais), C Lawes (Northampton), L Mears (Bath), L Moody (Leicester), T Palmer (Stade Francais), G Parling (Leicester), T Payne (Wasps), C Robshaw (Harlequins), S Shaw (Wasps), S Thompson (Brive), D Ward-Smith (Wasps), R Webber (Wasps), D Wilson (Bath), J Worsley (Wasps).
