FOLLOWING England’s selection trail is a work of detection — here a clue, there a clue — and yesterday Andy Robinson knocked some suspects on the head. When he reduced to 27 the squad from which the team to play Wales at Twickenham on Saturday will be named today, the head coach rejected individuals such as Stuart Abbott and Magnus Lund and confirmed that Josh Lewsey will start at full back.
Robinson has no realistic option at No 15 after the withdrawal through injury of Mark van Gisbergen. On the opening day of the RBS Six Nations Championship, he wants all the experience he can muster. The only other possibility at full back is Tom Voyce, but most of his rugby has been played on the wing and he has yet to succeed in covering all his defensive frailties, so Lewsey it has to be.
However much criticism there may have been of Robinson’s selections in the autumn, most notably in midfield, there seems little likelihood of significant change when he confirms the match squad. Wales, Scotland, Ireland and France do the same this afternoon.
Van Gisbergen’s ankle has let him down at just the wrong time. He joins Pat Sanderson, Olly Barkley and George Chuter on a relatively short casualty list. Three more players capped against Samoa — Louis Deacon, Tom Varndell and Perry Freshwater — revert to the A squad preparing for the match against Italy A in Colleferro on Friday, along with Lund and Abbott, the latter having done everything in his power for London Wasps against Bath on Saturday to convince Robinson that he should play at inside centre.
Instead, the head coach will surely go with Mike Tindall and Jamie Noon in the centre. “I was pleased with the players in the autumn,” Robinson said. “It’s about . . . understanding that if we can get quick ball, then the midfield combinations will have more time to work and expose the space we are trying to attack. So I was pretty pleased with the way the midfield went (against Australia and New Zealand).”
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Yet sufficient players remain in the squad to sustain the back-row conundrum, which is the key to the quick ball that Robinson wants for his backs. The obvious choices are Joe Worsley, Lewis Moody and Martin Corry, but Lawrence Dallaglio, James Forrester and Chris Jones remain in the mix and England could opt for a bench of five forwards and two backs. Robinson has retained two more locks, Alex Brown and Simon Shaw, alongside the second-row pairing of Danny Grewcock and Steve Borthwick and hammering Wales hard at the set-pieces — as England did against Australia — is a likely part of the game plan.
“In the three games we played (in November), I thought we set a benchmark and it’s important that we build on that,” Robinson said. “We haven’t been together for a few months, so now it’s important that we gel quickly and develop the systems that we were attempting to work on in the autumn and improve our game step by step.”
Wales, who may start with an inexperienced centre pairing of Matthew Watkins and Hal Luscombe now that Tom Shanklin is injured, Gavin Henson is suspended and Sonny Parker has retired, have drafted into their squad Robin Sowden-Taylor, Jamie Ringer and Ben Broster to bolster their options at back row and prop.
To their relief, Gareth Thomas, the captain and also an option at centre, is expected to be fit after knee trouble and a blow to the head suffered playing for Toulouse against Pau on Saturday. “We are going to rest him before Saturday,” Mike Ruddock, the Wales coach, said. “Hopefully he will last (the whole tournament), but only if we look after him properly.”