Dawson to make tour debut

The England captain Matt Dawson has been given the go-ahead to make his first appearance of England's seven-match tour in Saturday's match against New Zealand A in Hamilton. The Northampton scrum-half, whose knee ligament injury ruled him out of last weekend's 76-0 defeat by Australia, was named in the side after coming through a full-contact training session here at Board Park.

Tom Beim, the Sale wing, has been selected at full-back, a position he has filled at lower representative levels though not for his club this season. Patrick Sanderson, who played in the Brisbane Test, has been drafted into the back row alongside two experienced internationals, Ben Clarke and Steve Ojomoh.

Clive Woodward, the England coach, attempted to strike an upbeat note, notwithstanding the fact that local bookmakers have offered odds of 3-1 against the tourists winning any of their five games in New Zealand. "I really do think we can beat New Zealand A," he said. "We know it'll be difficult but we have closely studied the video of last Saturday's Test and we've addressed certain basic errors in this week's training sessions, which have gone very well indeed."

Woodward refused to look beyond the A international but it is clear that the selectors are hoping England's back-row combination will fire on eight cylinders, particularly with the highly competitive Dawson as scrum-half. A cohesive performance by Clarke, Ojomoh and Sanderson would put this trio strongly in the running for places in the first Test against the All Blacks in Dunedin in nine days' time.

Clarke, who has invaluable Test experience in tandem with Ojomoh against major nations such as South Africa and France, said England could only gain respect in New Zealand by winning some games here. "We have to prove ourselves in terms of the way we play the game," he acknowledged. "We must put in the hard work up front and in defence in order to ensure the right platform is there. It's important for us to get a win."

Inevitably there will be worries, though, over Woodward's decision to give Beim the number 15 shirt for a game that is likely to test his defensive capabilities to the limit. Better by far, some would say, to have picked Tim Stimpson or Matt Perry, especially as one of those internationals will be at full-back in the Dunedin Test, assuming that Woodward does not indulge in further experimentation.

Matt Moore, the 22-year-old Manchester University student, will need all the help he can get to defend England's line against the customary power running of Jonah Lomu, who will be eager to renew his claims for a Test place.

Moore, Dominic Chapman and Beim have not previously played together as a back three but Moore remains confident about his ability to cope with the task in hand.