Gloucester duo passed fit for England tour

Gloucester's Trevor Woodman and James Simpson-Daniel were passed fit to fly out today with the England tour party for New Zealand…

Gloucester's Trevor Woodman and James Simpson-Daniel were passed fit to fly out today with the England tour party for New Zealand and Australia.

Prop forward Woodman missed the Zurich Premiership championship final defeat by Wasps on Saturday with an ankle injury and wing three-quarter Simpson-Daniel suffered a badly bruised ankle in the Twickenham match.

But England coach Clive Woodward revealed today that both had successfully come through medical checks when the 37-strong squad reported to England's training headquarters at Surrey's Pennyhill Park Hotel over the weekend.

"We've a clean bill of health," said Woodward.

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It proved a welcome change of fortune for 26-year-old Woodman in a season disrupted by injury.

After starting England's Test victory over New Zealand at Twickenham in November, he suffered a neck and shoulder injury before the match against Australia and spent three and a half months on the sidelines following surgery.

Woodman returned as a replacement for the final two RBS 6 Nations matches against Scotland and Ireland as England clinched the Grand Slam.

He hopes to use the trip Down Under, in which England play the New Zealand Maori side on June 9, before Tests against New Zealand and Australia, to re-establish himself as a first choice in Woodward's front row ahead of this autumn's World Cup.

Before departing the coach went to great lengths to stress that he was not viewing the trip Down Under as a World Cup warm-up.

Woodward said: "I'm not even thinking about the World Cup. The World Cup is a long way away. This is the end of our season.

"It's a fantastic opportunity for these players. I don't think any of them have played for England in New Zealand. We are looking forward to it hugely."

England have never beaten New Zealand away but Woodward is not even contemplating the possibility of defeat.

His team proved themselves by beating the All Blacks, Australia and South Africa in quick succession at Twickenham, and he said: "If you go in with the mindset that you are going to lose you might as well not play Test match rugby.

I'm not even thinking about losing. We have a good momentum going."

The tour comes at the end of a long hard season for the England players, but Woodward added: "The players are tremendously enthusiastic about playing these matches. There is a genuine excitement.

"They want to play these teams, especially away from home. The whole world of rugby is looking forward to these games. These are big, big fixtures."