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'Fantastic strike force' England pairs Cohen and Luger to face Australia
Updated: Tuesday November 14, 2000 11:39 AM
LONDON (Reuters) -- England has dropped Austin Healey for Saturday's international against world champion Australia to allow the "fantastic strike force" of wingers Ben Cohen and Dan Luger to play for the first time. But coach Clive Woodward may have to alter his line-up after the death of Cohen's father on Tuesday morning. The RFU declined to comment on whether Cohen would play in Saturday's match. Under rugby regulations the deadline for naming a team is 48 hours before kick-off. Woodward announced that Healey, one of the most inventive players in England's backline, would be on the bench at Twickenham after playing in both tests against South Africa in the summer. Luger has scored 12 tries in 15 tests but Cohen has only made six appearances and omitting the experience of Healey, whose pace and ball skills are among the best in the British game, is a big gamble and puts a lot of pressure on flyhalf Jonny Wilkinson to provide England's attacking spark. Bracken at scrumhalf At the moment Kyran Bracken continues at scrumhalf instead of Matt Dawson who captained England during last season's Six Nations but missed the South Africa tour through injury. "Cohen is the form man at the moment," said Woodward earlier. "It is very tough on Austin, we'll miss his creative style to a certain degree. "Obviously he wants to start, he's in the 22 and the potential for him to come on is very exciting." "It's the first time I've been able to pick them both (Cohen and Luger), we have a fantastic strike force on both sides of the field. We're going out with the mindset of scoring tries." Healey, formerly a scrumhalf and a veteran of 32 tests, demonstrated his versatility in South Africa by replacing the injured Wilkinson at flyhalf for the first test. The powerful Cohen replaced Luger, who was injured, for the second test, won 27-22 by England, with Healey moving to the right wing. Before the news of his father's death Cohen said he had been shocked but delighted at being selected for the match against the best side in the world. "This is what we've been building to. We've got the opportunity to do it at Twickenham at home -- it's going to be very close but fingers crossed," he told Reuters. Prop Phil Vickery comes in for Julian White in the only other change from the side that beat South Africa. "Julian got his couple of caps in South Africa and the call between him and Vickery was very, very close," said Woodward. Woodward said England was going full-out for victory. "We're going to go out and absolutely get stuck into these players. We got some momentum going over the summer. It's a very, very big game and we expect to win. "They (the England players) are under no illusions about what they are up against." Lock Martin Johnson will captain the side. England: 15-Matt Perry; 14-Dan Luger, 13-Mike Tindall, 12-Mike Catt, 11-Ben Cohen; 10-Jonny Wilkinson, 9-Kyran Bracken; 8-Lawrence Dallaglio, 7-Neil Back, 6-Richard Hill, 5-Danny Grewcock, 4-Martin Johnson (captain), 3-Phil Vickery, 2-Phil Greening, 1-Jason Leonard.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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