International - Debuts for England trio

Eurosport - Wed, 03 Jun 17:23:00 2009

England will give Test debuts to Matt Banahan, David Wilson and Tom May in Saturday's clash with Argentina at Old Trafford.

Matt Banahan - England - 0

Bath winger Banahan (pictured, left) and Newcastle prop Wilson have been rewarded for impressive displays in Saturday's 33-26 defeat by the Barbarians.

May, the Toulon-bound utility back, starts at inside centre where he will form a robust midfield partnership with Leicester's Dan Hipkiss.

Jamie Noon has been ruled out with a calf injury, while Mark Cueto returns on the wing.

The Armitage brothers are reunited in an England side for the second time, Delon continuing at full-back and Steffon winning his second cap at openside.

There are five changes to the side that started against the Barbarians with Wasps back row James Haskell joining Banahan, Wilson, May and Steffon Armitage.

The front five and half-back pairing of Andy Goode and Danny Care are unchanged while in the back row Chris Robshaw and Lewis Moody drop out of the squad altogether.

Brive hooker Steve Thompson features among the substitutes for the second week in succession and is joined by fellow World Cup winner Ben Kay.

Julian White, the Leicester prop, will win his 50th cap should he make an appearance from a bench that also includes Sale's Mathew Tait.

England open the series at Old Trafford, their first visit to Manchester since 1997, before travelling to Argentina to play the second and final Test in Salta seven days later.

The Pumas, who finished third at the 2007 World Cup, sit one place higher in the International Rugby Board world rankings in fifth.

England: 15-Delon Armitage, 14-Mark Cueto, 13-Dan Hipkiss, 12-Tom May, 11-Matt Banahan, 10-Andy Goode, 9-Danny Care, 8-Nick Easter, 7-Steffon Armitage, 6-James Haskell, 5-Louis Deacon, 4-Steve Borthwick (capt), 3-David Wilson, 2-Dylan Hartley, 1-Tim Payne.

Replacements: 16-Steve Thompson, 17-Julian White, 18-Ben Kay, 19-Jordan Crane, 20-Paul Hodgson, 21-Sam Vesty, 22-Mathew Tait.

PA Sport

Comment 1 - 5 of 5

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  1. put tait at 13 he's the second on that position­ after o'driscoll of course and the first number 13­ after him.

    From Vachtang, on Tue 16 Jun 7:00PM

  2. What direction is Johnson going in? Everyone can see­ Goode's not world class except Johnson,­ Borthwick's not captain material he's not a­ world class second row but Johnson sticks with him.­ Noon's pants and the only reason he's not­ playing is due to injury. Johnson should have gone to­ SpecSavers.

    From Salamander, on Sat 6 Jun 8:28AM

  3. whats wrong with olly barkley or charlie hodgeson or­ dave walder all propper number tens fair enough u could­ say barkley and hodgeson have had there chance but so­ has goode and they persist with him

    From paul s, on Fri 5 Jun 6:02PM

  4. don't really see how you could make many of those­ assumptions. You say Tom May is better than Goode but­ if he's never played for england then how can you­ say that. also I'm pretty sure that he's not­ the worst fly-half in the world, i certainly don't­ think i'm better than him

    From rugbymad666, on Wed 3 Jun 9:12PM

  5. Put Vesty on because Goode is the worst fly half in the­ world!!!!!!!!!11 Tom May is better than him and May has­ never played for Ebgland before!!!!!1

    From joe.wyllie, on Wed 3 Jun 5:52PM
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