England lose Johnson and Dawson gets captain's call

It hardly constituted a surprise but Martin Johnson's absence from the England squad to face Ireland in the opening Six Nations Championship game at Twickenham next Saturday was confirmed yesterday. Coach Clive Woodward expressed regret that the former Lions and Leicester captain had not recovered from a long-standing achilles tendon problem in time.

"Sadly Martin Johnson hasn't made it and I'll obviously be monitoring closely his return to fitness during the next couple of weeks," Woodward said. The English has also been denied the services of Danny Grewcock, Dan Luger, David Rees, Kyran Bracken, Leon Lloyd and Martyn Wood because of injury.

The England coach named a 26-man squad which he will trim to 22 next Tuesday when the team and replacements for the Ireland game are named. Wings Iain Balshaw (Bath) and Ben Cohen (Northampton) and Bath centre Mike Tindall are the only uncapped players.

In Johnson's absence Northampton scrum-half Matt Dawson takes over the captaincy. Woodward pointed out: "Matt Dawson, as he proved on an extremely tough tour to the Southern Hemisphere in 1998, will be an excellent captain against Ireland and like me he's looking forward to the enormous challenge of our opening game. Nobody deserves the honour of leading the side out at Twickenham more."

Dawson said he was delighted at being chosen to lead his country. "I'm delighted but I obviously wish the circumstances had been different. My thoughts are with Martin. We wish him a swift recovery and hope to see him back in contention soon. We have a strong squad and I am looking forward to doing everything I can to ensure that we produce a good performance against Ireland."

Injuries provide opportunities for gargantuan second-rower Simon Shaw, hooker Mark Regan and scrum-half Andy Gomarsall, all of whom have fallen foul of national coaching regimes in the past. Woodward made special mention of their rehabilitation.

Shaw has been in excellent form for his club Wasps this season, easily outshining the other two contenders Tim Rodber - he can't win a regular starting slot at Northampton - and Gareth Archer. Regan will be hoping he won't be one of the hookers to miss out in the final 22, Phil Greening and Neil McCarthy being the others.

The long-running Liam Botham saga reached a conclusion last weekend when the son of Ian, the former cricket legend, chose England ahead of Wales. He has been rewarded with a place in the England A squad to play Ireland at Northampton next Friday.