Eurosport - Wed, 12 Nov 10:18:00 2008
England have made two changes to their team for the clash with Australia on Saturday, recalling prop Phil Vickery and lock Tom Palmer.
The two forwards are the only changes to the starting XV made by England manager Martin Johnson following the 39-13 victory over the Pacific Islanders last weekend, his debut match in charge.
Former England skipper Vickery (pictured) replaces Matt Stevens at tighthead and will pack down alongside hooker Lee Mears and giant loose head Andrew Sheridan.
Vickery and Sheridan were the starting props when England destroyed the Wallabies scrum in the quarter-final of the 2007 World Cup, and Johnson is clearly intent on trying to apply similar pressure on Saturday.
"We have two very good tighthead props, Phil is very fresh and in good form while Matt can potentially make an impact off the bench," Johnson explained.
"Phil is in as good a shape as I've seen him for a long time, he's also got a leadership role and it's good to have him around."
Palmer, who wins his 11th cap, gets the nod ahead of Nick Kennedy and forms a second row partnership with captain Steve Borthwick.
Stevens drops down to the bench, from where he is likely to be used as an impact player, while Kennedy has not been included in the match-day squad.
The experienced Simon Shaw adds his considerable bulk to the bench, where he takes the place of Wasps team-mate Palmer.
London Irish's Kennedy can consider himself unlucky since he scored a try against the Islanders on what was his international debut.
"Tom (Palmer) had a good tour of New Zealand," Johnson added. "It was good to get Nick in last week. He played pretty well.
"It's tough on Nick not to be in the 22 but when you are picking your bench it's not always about your next best player but a different sort of player. We wanted what Shaw offers."
Johnson has kept faith with his backline, after impressive debut performances from Delon Armitage, Ugo Moyne and Riki Flutey, all of who combined well with the more experienced Jamie Noon and Paul Sackey.
The half-back pairing of Danny Care and Danny Cipriani gets another chance to develop their huge potential, while Johnson has also retained the same backrow of Tom Rees, Tom Croft and Nick Easter.
Only four players - Vickery, Sheridan, Sackey and Easter - remain from the side that defeated the Wallabies last year.
Australia coach Robbie Deans has named a side featuring only six players who featured in the 12-10 World Cup quarter-final defeat in Marseille last October, with only three survivors from a pack left battered and bruised by England's forwards.
Al Baxter will go up against Sheridan once again after Deans named the same Australia team that lost 19-14 to New Zealand in Hong Kong two weekends ago, except for Hugh McMeniman replacing Dean Mumm at blindside flanker.
Matt Giteau returns to start at fly-half with Stirling Mortlock and Ryan Cross, forging a powerful midfield unit.
Deans said: "There's great history in the sporting rivalry between Australia and England and Twickenham is a great stadium and a special ground to play on. We're looking forward to what we anticipate will be a great occasion.
"This is a new group carving out its own way. 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."
Deans has included rookie fly-half Quade Cooper among the replacements after the 20-year-old came off the bench to seal the Wallabies' victory over Italy with a late try.
England: 15-Delon Armitage, 14-Paul Sackey, 13-Jamie Noon, 12-Riki Flutey, 11-Ugo Monye, 10-Danny Cipriani, 9-Danny Care; 8-Nick Easter, 7-Tom Rees, 6-Tom Croft, 5-Tom Palmer, 4-Steve Borthwick (capt), 3-Phil Vickery, 2-Lee Mears, 1-Andrew Sheridan.
Replacements: 16-Dylan Hartley, 17-Matt Stevens, 18-Simon Shaw, 19-James Haskell, 20-Michael Lipman, 21-Harry Ellis, 22-Toby Flood.
Australia: 15-Adam Ashley-Cooper, 14-Peter Hynes, 13-Ryan Cross, 12-Stirling Mortlock (captain), 11-Drew Mitchell, 10-Matt Giteau, 9-Luke Burgess; 8-Richard Brown, 7-George Smith, 6-Hugh McMeniman, 5-Nathan Sharpe, 4-Mark Chisholm, 3-Al Baxter, 2-Stephen Moore, 1-Benn Robinson.
Replacements: 16-Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17-Matt Dunning, 18-Dean Mumm, 19-Wycliff Palu, 20-Sam Cordingley, 21-Quade Cooper, 22-Digby Ioane.
Comment 1 - 10 of 10
Why is care playing instead of Ellis. When he came on against pacific islands the game came alive and Danny Cipriani played a whole lot better. Harry Ellis for the number 9 shirt. Also I agree Kennedy played brilliant and a whole lot better than Palmer. But good luck against the wallibes, ill be watching
Got to say a good start to the campaign, think they have found a good full back to pull on the 15 shirt but it would still be nice to see josh lewsey in it again.
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Kennedy played well agaisn't the PI - but the Aussies are a different thing and England do need something different as Martin says - England should be about a SQUAD and that is what England is building
kennedy is the best lock in the premiership and country to drop him is a big mistake,
so how can he be dropped same old rubbish from england
What channel can u watch the games on?
surely Vickery is getting beyond his useful shelflife now.
and I hope Noon shows a bit more than he did against PI, he was non-existant.
jury still out on Danny, but rest of backs deserve 2nd start.
what have england got against kennedy?
he is by far the in form lock in the premiership for the last year
I really hope England do well in the forthcoming weeks!! I love the game and i think the new guys will just get better and better. im very proud to be British!
Go England
Go solicit somewhere else
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