England halfback Matt Dawson has made a dramatic recovery from injury to be named in the side to play South Africa in Saturday's pivotal rugby World Cup pool match.

Coach Clive Woodward made just two bench changes to the side which belted Georgia 84-6 in its opening match last Sunday in Perth.

There was only one injury-forced change with second-rower Martin Corry in for Danny Grewcock (broken toe) while prop Dorian West replaced Mark Regan.

Woodward was not confident veteran Dawson (hamstring) would play earlier this week and there were also concerns over the fitness of second-choice Kyran Bracken (back).

Martyn Wood flew into Perth as a stand-by on Monday night but will fly back to England for club commitments on Thursday afternoon.

The 30-year-old Dawson said he feared the worst after leaving the field at Subiaco Oval - but would be 100 per cent against the Springboks.

"When you get a bang and you come off because of injury, you think the worst," he said.

"But we have got a good medical team who put it in just a bit more in perspective and after 24-48 hours it was not as bad as first thought."

Dawson had received intensive treatment on the injury while Bracken was confident his back would not play up after forcing him to withdraw before the Georgian rout.

"I can't afford to let it get into my psyche," Bracken said.

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