The England team shows three changes from that which beat Scotland 24-21 for Saturday's Five Nations Championship match against Ireland at Lansdowne Road. Kyran Bracken and Paul Grayson are introduced at scrum-half and out-half respectively while Bath's Matt Perry is preferred to Nick Beal at full back. The latter is named among the replacements.
England coach Clive Woodward conceded that there were no injury concerns and by extension the side was therefore picked on merit. Lions scrum-half Matthew Dawson drops to the bench as does Bath's Mike Catt, both of whom started against the Scots. Although it wasn't articulated quite as plainly, Dawson and Catt were held partially culpable for what the England team and management described as a "below par" performance against the Scots.
Aside from the opening 15 minutes during which the English imposed their considerable ability, scoring two tries, they failed to dominate the Scots and were somewhat fortunate victors, benefiting from Kenny Logan's placekicking frailties: the Scottish left wing missed three opportunities. The half-back positions were just one area in which control and direction were lacking while Beal's fragility under the high ball cost him his place.
In mitigation, Woodward is a firm supporter of the qualities that Bracken and Grayson bring to any team and they would have been his first-choice pairing initially. In the interim, injury and unavailability conspired to periodically deprive him of their services. Woodward conceded: "Kyran had not played for England since Wales last season, almost a year.
Matt Dawson has been in ever since and it was the first time I had picked Dawson above Bracken when he has been fit for the Scotland game, which he deserved on merit from South Africa. But Kyran is now back in the squad and over his injuries and it is important that I give him a go again.
"In terms of the number 10, the same really applies. I looked carefully how we played against Scotland and again I thought that Catt and Dawson did well against South Africa and deserved another chance. Looking at this game and I think that this was always going to be the hardest away game in the Five Nations, against Ireland, I just thought we had to bring these two guys back. "Perry comes in on merit above Nick Beal. The key thing is that we are working with a squad of 22. It's a difficult decision, it's not nice telling Catt, Dawson and Beal that they are on the bench, but I think it is right for this weekend."
The former London Irish coach admitted that his decisions on the selection issue were to some extent by the problems that Ireland would pose.
"We are fully aware of how difficult this game is going to be, how well Ireland have played especially against France. They should have won comfortably. We have picked a side because these games are about winning, nothing else." He delivered a pointed ultimatum to his "favourite starting line-up" in the pack to perform or face the consequences.
The English coach tossed a few bouquets Ireland's way when questioned as to what he expects at Lansdowne Road on Saturday. "You saw what happened to France. We are playing a very good Irish team, obviously well coached. This was probably going to be the biggest game for us where we have to get it absolutely right. . . It's a difficult place to come and win. We've picked a side to combat what is going to come at us. Against Ireland, if you don't get your basics right, line-outs and scrums, then you will come second."
Irish coach Warren Gatland would probably have preferred it had his counterpart maintained the status quo, but instead Woodward has addressed obvious shortcomings against Scotland.
One area that the English coach did dwell upon was the disciplinary issue, praising Ireland's reticence against Wales while defending Martin Johnson (yellow-carded against Scotland) as a player who would not deliberately stamp on an opponent, an assertion that Woodward claims, Scottish coach Jim Telfer endorsed.
England: M Perry (Bath); D Rees (Sale), J Wilkinson (Newcastle), J Guscott (Bath), D Luger (Harlequins); P Grayson (Northampton), K Bracken (Saracens); J Leonard (Harlequins), R Cockerill (Leicester), D Garforth (Leicester), M Johnson (Leicester), T Rodber (Northampton), R Hill (Saracens), N Back (Leicester), L Dallaglio (Wasps) capt. Replacements: M Dawson (Northampton), M Catt (Bath), N Beal (Northampton), M Corry (Leicester), D Grewcock (Saracens), V Ubogu (Bath), N McCarthy (Gloucester).
England A: C Catling (Gloucester); S Hanley (Sale), J Ewens (Bedford), B-J Mather (Sale), S Brown (Richmond); M Mapletoft (Gloucester), N Walshe (Harlequins); T Wood- man (Gloucester), G Chuter (Saracens), W Green (Wasps), R Fidler (Gloucester), G Archer (Newcastle), B Clarke (Richmond), A Vander (Richmond), T Diprose (Saracens) capt. Replacements: J Baxendell (Sale), N Burrows (London Irish), M Wood (Wasps), G Seely (Northampton), M Cornwell (Gloucester), N Hatley (London Irish), R Kirke (London Irish).
