Charioteers expect a bumpy ride

Pool C News: Normally Clive Woodward's squad are awash with positive vibes early in a Test week yet both Martin Johnson and Jonny Wilkinson confessed yesterday to stirrings of unease ahead of England's vital Pool C encounter with South Africa on Saturday

Not only did both players admit to feeling more nervous than usual but England's injury worries remain an irksome distraction. It would be easy to link the two facts ahead of today's team announcement but it was Johnson's response when invited to contemplate defeat to the Springboks which spoke loudest of all.

"It would be pretty difficult," he conceded. "You're probably going to get the worst quarter-final draw and that's why this game is so important. South Africa will be wanting to win this more than any other game they've played in a long time."

In other words England know their entire World Cup campaign rests on what occurs at Subiaco Oval this Saturday, when defeat would probably leave them with the daunting task of having to beat New Zealand, Australia and France on successive weekends next month to lift the William Webb Ellis trophy.

"The prospect of playing in these sort of games does cause a lot of anxious feelings, you do start to worry about letting people down," Wilkinson revealed.

In his case there is the added complication of not yet knowing who his half-back partner will be, with Woodward waiting until later today for further assessments on injured scrumhalves Kyran Bracken and Matt Dawson.

No decision has been made on Martyn Wood, the Bath scrumhalf who has been flown to Perth as emergency cover but cannot officially join the squad until someone is sent home.

In the circumstances there must be a chance of the team Woodward announces today changing slightly before kick-off, with the coach having already indicated he will not know until the eve of the game whether Wood's club-mate Mike Tindall, for instance, will be 100 per cent fit to play in the centre.

Andy Gomarsall, the fittest of the squad's original trio of number nines, must have a real chance of starting this weekend, if only as a precaution against further disruption should Bracken's suspect back fail him again.

"It would be great if everyone could have been fit and running about today but it's not the end of the world," insisted Johnson, pointing out that injuries are not England's sole preserve. nevertheless, their sweet chariot is braced for a bumpy ride.