England Tour: England gave a pointer to their World Cup thinking yesterday when coach Clive Woodward recalled the Gloucester club-mates Phil Vickery and Trevor Woodman to face Australia in Saturday's Test at Docklands Stadium.

The props, who have not started a Test for England in 2003 after undergoing back and neck surgery respectively, are the only changes to the starting line-up against the All Blacks last Saturday, with Harlequins' Jason Leonard and Graham Rowntree of Leicester stepping aside despite prominent roles in the stirring Wellington triumph.

There are many who suspect the Cornish duo of Vickery and Woodman, if fit, will be England's first-choice World Cup props and Woodward, who is not yet committing himself, admitted that the reshuffle was planned even before England embarked on this tour.

The management had been concerned that Vickery and Woodman, who have not packed down together at Test level since starting against New Zealand in November, were short of match practice and opted to play them both against the Maori last Monday week while keeping Leonard and Rowntree fresh for the All Black Test five days later.

Now, despite Rowntree playing a full part in one of the most defiant English rearguard scrummaging actions of modern times, the faithful Leicester loose-head is not even in the 22-man squad for the final tour fixture against the Wallabies who, for all their injuries elsewhere, are developing into a formidable scrummaging unit. "At the end of a long season we're in a fortunate position to be playing two props who haven't had a lot of rugby," acknowledged Woodward.

The 26-year-old Woodman was sidelined for four months between November and March following the removal of a piece of disc from his neck but recovered just in time to share in England's grand slam win in Dublin. Saturday's game, however, will be only his second full England start and he is keen to provide England with the same inspirational forward platform they had against the All Blacks. "I'd never fancy a six-man scrum," he said, "but hopefully it won't come to that."

There are also a number of alterations on the replacements' bench, with Mark Regan and Alex King, whose last full England cap was two years ago, taking over from Dorian West and Paul Grayson. Matt Dawson, an original pick at scrum-half for the All Black game, has failed to oust his stand-in Kyran Bracken while Andy Gomarsall will return home having played less than half an hour's rugby on the entire trip.

Josh Lewsey is fit to play at full-back despite the stamping incident in Wellington and is declining to wear any headgear to protect the six stitches in his scalp.

ENGLAND (v Australia, Saturday): Lewsey (Wasps); Robinson (Sale), Greenwood (Harlequins), Tindall (Bath), Cohen (Northampton); Wilkinson (Newcastle), Bracken (Saracens); Woodman (Gloucester), Thompson (Northampton), Vickery (Gloucester), Johnson (Leicester, capt), Kay (Leicester), Hill (Saracens), Back (Leicester), Dallaglio (Wasps). Replacements: Regan (Leeds), Leonard (Harlequins), Borthwick (Bath), J Worsley (Wasps), Dawson (Northampton), King (Wasps), Luger (Perpignan).

 - Guardian Service