Martin Johnson has recalled Phil Vickery to the England team ahead of the match against Australia this Saturday. The only other change to the starting XV is the inclusion of Tom Palmer ahead of Nick Kennedy at lock. Kennedy, who scored a try in the 39-13 victory over Pacific Islands, has been dropped from the 22-man squad altogether, with Simon Shaw taking his place on the bench. Steve Borthwick retains the captaincy.
Vickery and Andrew Sheridan were the front row pairing that caused Australia so many problems during the 2007 World Cup quarter-final. Only four of that team will start this weekend's match, with Nick Easter and Paul Sackey completing the quartet. Palmer's inclusion will add more gumption to the side in the loose, and it is clear that Johnson, who has resisted the calls from some commentators to start James Haskell, has based his selection on a belief that England will be able to out-muscle Australia up-front.
"We have two quality tighthead props. Phil is fresh and in form and we are picking a team to beat Australia on Saturday," said Martin Johnson by way of explanation. "Matt is a huge impact player. Phil is our most experienced forward. He brings a lot of leadership, which will be important. He is a world-class player." Johnson also insisted that Palmer had never been far from his thoughts, "Tom had a good tour of New Zealand. It was good to get Nick in last week. He played pretty well. It is not a selection on how he played last week, we were thinking of doing it anyway. It was a tough call on him not being on the bench but we wanted what Shaw offers.
"Every part of our game needs to improve," Johnson observed, "Australia have just come out of the Tri-Nations, they have played South Africa three times, New Zealand four times, so they have been rubbing shoulders with the best teams in the world. They will be battle-hardened and they will want to come to Twickenham to win. Their scrum was a weakness but they have worked hard on that. Scrummaging has become the thing to talk about in England v Australia games but we need to be on top of our game. We haven't scrummaged that well recently and it is not about reputations, it is about 2.30pm on Saturday."
Australia have also named their side for the match. The management have confirmed that both Berrick Barnes and Timana Tahu will both be sent home from the tour because of injury problems. Barnes has suspected ligament damage to his left knee while Tahu has a torn hamstring. Both players started in Australia's 30-20 win over Italy last weekend. Matt Giteau will start at fly half. Al Baxter is on of three Australian forwards who were given such a torrid time by England in Marseille last October to hold onto his place in the line-up, meaning he will reprise his unequal battle with Sheridan. Like Johnson, Robbie Deans denied that the recent history between the two teams would have any effect on Saturday.
"This is a new group carving out its own way," Deans commented, "We won't be distracted by what has gone before. Many of our players have never experienced playing at Twickenham before so it holds no baggage for them.
The history has no real relevance for what is to come aside, perhaps, from highlighting the scale of the opportunity that is ahead of us."
England team: D Armitage (London Irish); P Sackey (Wasps), J Noon (Newcastle), R Flutey (Wasps), U Monye (Harlequins); D Cipriani (Wasps), D Care (Harlequins); A Sheridan (Sale Sharks), L Mears (Bath), P Vickery (Wasps), S Borthwick (Saracens, capt), T Palmer (Wasps), T Croft (Leicester), T Rees (Wasps), N Easter (Harlequins).
Replacements: D Hartley (Northampton), M Stevens (Bath), S Shaw (Wasps), J Haskell (Wasps), M Lipman (Bath), H Ellis (Leicester), T Flood (Leicester).
Australia team: A Ashley-Cooper (ACT Brumbies); P Hynes (Queensland Reds), R Cross (Western Force), S Mortlock (ACT Brumbies, capt), D Mitchell (Western Force); M Giteau (Western Force), L Burgess (NSW Waratahs); B Robinson (NSW Waratahs), S Moore (Queensland Reds), A Baxter (NSW Waratahs), M Chisholm (ACT Brumbies), N Sharpe (Western Force), H McMeniman (Queensland Reds), G Smith (ACT Brumbies), R Brown (Western Force).
Replacements: T Polota-Nau (NSW Waratahs), M Dunning (NSW Waratahs), D Mumm (NSW Waratahs), W Palu (NSW Waratahs), S Cordingley (Queensland Reds), Q Cooper (Queensland Reds), D Ioane (Queensland Reds).
