England take the gamble

England coach Clive Woodward is taking a significant gamble in blooding five new caps - Matt Perry, David Rees, Will Greenwood, Andy Long and Will Green - against Australia at Twickenham today.

It is customary to introduce newcomers in ones and twos at Test level mainly because senior players such as Jason Leonard and de Glanville are too preoccupied with their own job to act as good shepherd to the tyros.

No one denies the individual talents of the new men, most of whom played in Woodward's England under-21 team, yet the history of Test rugby is littered with demoralised sides who threw too many youngsters in together at the deep end. Australia may have lost four of their last six internationals but they did win last summer's Test series against France 2-0.

In any case England have also suffered a number of recent defeats, three in their last five matches. Clearly England's long term goal is to develop a side capable of winning the 1999 World Cup. The Wallabies of course have the same World Cup goal in mind, hence their decision to pick a 20year-old newcomer, Elton Flatley at out-half in the absence of the injured David Knox whose Test career at 34 must surely be over.

England though will probably be more concerned about the return of the hard driving number eight, Willie Ofahengaue, having forfeited the tackling power of Tim Rodber for the pace and handling skills of Tony Diprose in the same position. If the Wallabies get Ofahengaue moving around the fringes as they intend, a bigger defensive burden may fall on newly-appointed captain Lawrence Dallaglio in addition to his responsibilities as leader.

The pay off from the Lions tour to South Africa last summer has been meagre, as discarded scrum-half Matt Dawson would testify. Still, no one could accuse Woodward, a forceful England centre in his day, of being faint-hearted or of taking orders from the Lions manager Fran Cotton who has a big say in the current England structure.

This week's orgy of hype about "an exciting new era for English rugby" will be justified if Woodward's team displays half the panache England showed when they beat Australia in the 1995 World Cup. The house that Jack (Rowell) built with painstaking care has been swiftly demolished - now its time to see whether the new foundations can withstand the coming storms.

Guardian Service

England: M Perry (Bath); D Rees (Sale), P de Glanville (Bath), W Greenwood (Leicester), A Adebayo (Bath); M Catt (Bath), K Bracken (Saracens); J Leonard (Harlequins), A Long (Bath), W Green (Wasps), M Johnson (Leicester), G Archer (Newcastle), L Dallaglio (Wasps, capt), R Hill (Saracens), T Diprose (Saracens). Replacements: P Grayson (Northampton), A Healey (Leicester), G Rowntree (Leicester), R Cockerill (Leicester), D Grewcock (Saracens), N Back (Leicester).

Australia: S Larkham (Australian Capital Territories); B Tune (Queensland), T Horan (Queensland), P Howard (ACT), J Roff (ACT); E Flatley (Queensland), G Gregan (ACT); R Harry (New South Wales), M Foley (Queensland), A Blades (NSW), J Langford (ACT), J Eales (Queensland, capt), O Finegan (ACT), B Robinson (ACT), W Ofahengaue (NSW). Replacements: M Hardy (NSW), S Payne (NSW), A Heath (NSW), M Caputo (ACT), M Cockbain (Queensland), D Wilson (Queensland).

Referee: A Watson (South Africa).