De Glanville pulls out of clash with Springboks

England's changing line-up required further adjustment yesterday when Phil de Glanville withdrew with a twisted ankle from tomorrow's Test against the Springboks at Twickenham, giving Nick Greenstock the opportunity to make his first international appearance on home ground.

Simon Shaw, the Wasps and England lock who toured South Africa with the Lions last summer, has been called up as a replacement.

The new recruit is in for a hard time. Yesterday Lawrence Dallaglio, a member of the Lions team who defeated South Africa in the Test series, warned: "The Springboks are like a wounded animal and when an animal is wounded it often returns in a frenzy - that'll give you an idea of what we must expect. After all, they are still the world champions.

Greenstock, who won three caps in Argentina and Australia last summer, forms a new midfield partnership with Will Greenwood, with whom he has played in A internationals.

The 24-year-old Wasps centre, who is 6ft 3in and 15st 4lb, will bring formidable pace and strength to the task of presenting a physical challenge to the greatly improved Springboks.

A former PR consultant, Greenstock has benefited greatly from the switch to full-time professionalism: last season he played an important role in Wasps' successful championship campaign.

During his teenage years at Sherborn School, Greenstock was coached by the former England forward Mike Davies and after joining Wasps straight from school he came under the positive influence of Rob Smith and latterly Nigel Melville.

"Nigel is an astute reader of the game and he made me look closely at my contribution to certain areas such as broken play," explained Greenstock.

"With Wasps I've learned how to make a more effective contribution to making the task of the forwards a bit easier. Getting involved physically is bread and butter for a centre - if you don't defend you'll get shown up."

England will bring a high level of confidence into tomorrow's Test, promised Greenstock. "The Springboks don't play such a structured game now but they're strong and direct and we'll need to get in among them and put them off their stride. I believe I can bring a certain directness and pace to our effort."

Shaw, who has seven caps, made his first appearance in the match squad this season after playing only a handful of games for Wasps because of a knee injury. His experience in South Africa could prove invaluable if either Garath Archer or Danny Grewcock fail to go the full 80 minutes in a contest that could have a high casualty rate.

Dallaglio said: "It's important that we're ready to take the Boks on physically. We want to create scoring opportunities - we'd prefer to get tries rather than penalties - but when we haven't got the ball we'll have to defend.

"When Southern Hemisphere sides get the ball they make you defend for longer periods than you'd prefer. South Africa have shown everyone in France they can play far better than they did against the Lions last summer."

South Africa wing James Small is determined that the game will not be turned into a personal grudge match between him and England's John Bentley.

Bentley was accused of eye-gouging when the two wingers clashed during the Lions' tour match against Western Province in Cape Town in May.

But Small maintains that no bad blood persists between them. "I'm pleased for him," said Small. "He's a good player in a good side. He is a difficult opponent and I look forward to it."