Six Nations England v WalesGloucester's backrow forward Luke Narraway and wing Lesley Vainikolo are both set to win their first caps for England against Wales at Twickenham on Saturday after being included in a reshuffled 22-man squad yesterday by the head coach, Brian Ashton.
The starting line-up shows seven changes from the team that started the World Cup final against South Africa in Paris last October, retirements and injuries having forced Ashton to call up the 24-year-old Narraway, who was not included in his original Six Nations squad.
With Nick Easter failing a fitness test on his right knee, Joe Worsley unavailable because of neck trouble and Tom Croft still carrying a shoulder injury, Narraway is hardly first choice but he has been in good form for the Premiership leaders.
"His form has been consistent and he is rapidly improving," said Gloucester's director of rugby, Dean Ryan.
Vainikolo, as expected, has been named on the bench, having previously represented New Zealand at rugby league, when his try-scoring record included a hat-trick against Wales.
The biggest surprise, however, was the axing of the Newcastle back Mathew Tait in favour of a third player from Kingsholm, Iain Balshaw, at full-back. Tait had a poor game for the Falcons last weekend and Ashton has omitted him entirely.
There are also recalls for the Bath lock Steve Borthwick, at the expense of Ben Kay, and for Mike Tindall, who forms a new centre partnership with Toby Flood. England, however, are short on preparation time before this weekend's encounter and were not helped yesterday when three players, Paul Sackey, Simon Shaw and Phil Vickery, sat out training and another two, James Haskell and Lewis Moody, needed treatment for minor knocks.
All should be available to train today but England were unable to consider either Paul Hodgson (left-knee injury) or Louis Deacon (groin) for weekend duty.
It is fair to say that Balshaw attracts more sceptics than fervent disciples but the head coach has made his call.
His explanation for Balshaw's inclusion was that England's back line, following the return of Tindall, needs balancing with a more experienced full-back.
This may puzzle those members of the public whose last glimpse of Tait was a scything 70-metre dash through the Springbok defence in the World Cup final that momentarily threatened to transform the outcome. "One break in one game doesn't make a player an automatic selection," stressed Ashton. "He did a good job for us in the World Cup but circumstances have changed."
