Moody ruled out of England opener

Lewis Moody has been ruled out of England's Six Nations opener against Scotland at Twickenham after failing to recover from a shoulder injury.

The Leicester flanker will be replaced on the bench on Saturday by uncapped Wasps forward Tom Rees.

Rees linked up with the England squad at their Bath University base yesterday, after Moody missed training.

England head coach Brian Ashton will not decide until tomorrow on whether Iain Balshaw will start at fullback. Balshaw suffered a groin injury during training yesterday, meaning his Gloucester colleague Olly Morgan was called up as a precaution.

If Balshaw misses out then Ashton could either draft uncapped Morgan straight into the team or move either Josh Lewsey or Jason Robinson from one of the wing positions.

England will launch their Six Nations campaign a much-changed side, with only two players - flanker Joe Worsley and number eight Martin Corry - retained in their starting positions from the world champions' last fixture against South Africa a little more than two months ago.

Scotland coach Frank Hadden recalled Chris Cusiter earlier in the week after the scrumhalf recovered from a shoulder injury, while lock James Hamilton will make his first start.