One change for England against Wallabies
England manager Martin Johnson made one change to his starting line-up for Saturday's autumn international series Test match against Australia at Twickenham.
New Zealand-born hooker Dylan Hartley, England's try-scorer in the 26-16 defeat by the All Blacks last week, is promoted from the bench ahead of 2003 World Cup winner Steve Thompson.
England face the Wallabies on Saturday with the Australians determined to avenge their defeat to Johnson's men in Sydney in June.
Australia are riding high after successive victories over New Zealand in Hong Kong last month and Wales in Cardiff last weekend.
However the Wallabies are bracing for a ferocious English onslaught in the forwards, where loosehead prop Andrew Sheridan and tighthead Dan Cole join Hartley to form a formidable front row.
Sheridan has fond memories of playing Australia, almost single-handedly destroying the Wallabies scrum on his 2005 Twickenham debut and producing another immense contribution in the 2007 World Cup quarter-finals.
Stade Francais's Tom Palmer is reunited with Courtney Lawes at lock while captain Lewis Moody is once again joined by Tom Croft and Nick Easter in the back row.
Behind the scrum, Johnson has kept faith with scrum-half Ben Youngs and fly-half Toby Flood, with Shontayne Hape partnering Mike Tindall at centre.
The back three comprise rugby league convert Chris Ashton on the right wing, with Sale's Mark Cueto on the opposite flank. Northampton's Ben Foden is at fullback again.
Johnson has also made one change to the replacements, veteran lock Simon Shaw returning in place of Dave Attwood who misses out on the match squad.
England
Ben Foden; Chris Ashton, Mike Tindall, Shontayne Hape, Mark Cueto; Toby Flood, Ben Youngs; Nick Easter, Lewis Moody (capt), Tom Croft; Tom Palmer, Courtney Lawes; Dan Cole, Dylan Hartley, Andrew Sheridan
Replacements: Steve Thompson, David Wilson, Simon Shaw, Hendrie Fourie, Danny Care, Charlie Hodgson, Delon Armitage.
Post a comment about this article
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Becoming a member is free and easy, sign up here.