ENGLAND v ITALY:MARTIN JOHNSON'S priority is to extricate the English chariot from the muddy ditch into which it swerved last autumn, which explains Andy Goode's selection at outhalf in place of Danny Cipriani in the starting XV to face Italy on Saturday.
Johnson badly needs a win – “It’s not about style, it’s about substance” – and does not care that, in the view of the public, he has traded an Aston Martin for a heavy-duty lorry. The manager even described Goode’s first Test call-up for more than two years as “quite an easy call in the end”.
When it became clear Toby Flood’s calf injury was not healing quickly enough, Johnson had a choice between bolstering Cipriani’s fragile confidence, backing the quicksilver Shane Geraghty or reverting to his old mate from Leicester days. The retreat back into the pocket is a tacit admission that a rebuilding England were guilty in November of trying to run before they could walk.
Danny Care twisted an ankle in training within minutes of being confirmed as Goode’s starting half-back partner yesterday and Harry Ellis has had to be recalled from the Saxons squad. The alternative is to start with the uncapped Ben Foden. Care will be assessed over the next 24 hours before any final decision is taken.
The clear message prior to Johnson’s first Six Nations team-sheet as a manager is that England’s future can wait. In places this is a jerry-built team, bolted together in the hope of getting from A to B. Riki Flutey and Mike Tindall have barely met, let alone played a Test together, and Tindall and Goode have never started in the same Test XV. The inclusion of London Irish’s Steffon Armitage is welcome but it means another backrow reshuffle behind a pair of locks, Steve Borthwick and Nick Kennedy. There are five changes from the New Zealand defeat in November, with Jamie Noon and Ugo Monye making way for Tindall and the returning Mark Cueto respectively.
Meanwhile, England will face Argentina at Old Trafford on June 6th before flying to South America for the second Test the following weekend. Guardian Service
