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Wales rings changes England hands debut to Simpson-DanielPosted: Monday November 04, 2002 2:36 PMLONDON (Reuters) -- Gloucester winger James Simpson-Daniel will make his England debut in Saturday's test match against New Zealand at Twickenham. The 20-year-old was rewarded for his recent good form, which has helped Gloucester to the top of the English premiership standings. Club mate Trevor Woodman also makes his first start after five appearances as a replacement. Simpson-Daniel made an immediate impression on New Zealand's Jonah Lomu, who he could mark on Saturday, when he comfortably rounded the giant All Blacks winger and scored in the corner to help England beat the Barbarians earlier this year. The New Zealand side will be named on Tuesday and Lomu, who has been told he must perform on this tour if he wants to be considered for the 2003 World Cup, should be included as coach John Mitchell has only two specialist wingers in his squad. Bath's Danny Grewcock was preferred to Ben Kay of Leicester at lock, with Lewis Moody edging out the experienced Neil Back in a new-look back-row that sees Richard Hill switching to open-side flanker for a match in which he will win his 50th cap. Former captain Lawrence Dallaglio wins his 49th cap, playing at number eight. The decision to drop Back, who captained England during this year's Six Nations championship, to the replacements' bench probably signals Woodward's intentions for the World Cup. Back will be 34 next January, and Woodward seems to be looking at a younger loose-forward trio for Australia. Leicester utility back Austin Healey has been named as cover for the outside backs and halfbacks Jonny Wilkinson and Matt Dawson. Sale flyhalf Charlie Hodgson, the normal back-up for Wilkinson, was due to have knee surgery at the weekend. Dawson, also a former England captain, returns at the expense of Gloucester's Andy Gomarsall. Kyran Bracken of Saracens did not even make the 30-man squad for this month's internationals against New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. England have not beaten New Zealand since 1993 but with the tourists leaving several first choice players at home to rest and recover from injury, Woodward will expect to chalk up his first victory against them. New Zealand were the last team to beat England at Twickenham, in the group stage of the 1999 World Cup. Since that 30-16 defeat England have won 15 successive matches at their home ground. Team: 15-Jason Robinson; 14-James Simpson-Daniel, 13-Will Greenwood, 12-Mike Tindall, 11-Ben Cohen; 10-Jonny Wilkinson, 9-Matt Dawson; 8-Lawrence Dallaglio, 7-Richard Hill, 6-Lewis Moody, 5-Danny Grewcock, 4-Martin Johnson (captain), 3-Phil Vickery, 2-Steve Thompson, 1-Trevor Woodman. Replacements: Mark Regan, Jason Leonard, Ben Kay, Neil Back, Austin Healey, Ben Johnston, Tim Stimpson. Wales coach Hansen to ring the changes against FijiCARDIFF (Reuters) -- Wales coach Steve Hansen has promised changes to his team for the game against Fiji at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday. "There will definitely be changes to the starting line-up for Fiji. It's going to be a fast and furious match and we know we are going to have to speed up all over the field in order to keep up. "But we are confident after a good win over Romania and I expect us to sharpen up, improve anticipation and lines of support running." Hansen knows his team must improve despite their 40-3 victory over Romania last Friday as they try to match the pace and power of the Pacific champions. "Fiji have just won the Pacific Championships, that means they are better than teams like Samoa and we all know what they have done to Wales in the past," said Hansen. Western Samoa knocked Wales out of the 1991 Rugby World Cup with a victory in the pool stages and Hansen believes Fiji have the flare, speed and strength to worry his team. "We know we need to sharpen up on the performance against Romania. We broke their defense down often enough, but we were lacking the scoring pass on a number of occasions. Flyhalf Neil Jenkins kicked 20 points as Wales struggled to beat Romania in Wrexham on Friday. The Welsh, booed at the break after going 12-0 in front through four Jenkins penalties, ran in four tries -- one of them a penalty try -- in the second half. Wingers Gareth Thomas and Mark Jones both touched down. "If we can get a good Welsh crowd behind us baying for an exciting game of rugby then I think we can pull off a performance to be proud of (against Fiji)," said Hansen. Scotland calls up Scott for injured BrotherstoneEDINBURGH (Reuters) -- Scotland have been forced to make a further change to their squad for the test against Romania at Murrayfield on Saturday following a knee injury to hooker Steve Brotherstone. His place was taken by Steve Scott, who was promoted from the A squad. Australian-born Nathan Hines, who became the first Scotland player to be sent off when he received a red card against the United States in San Francisco this year, has also been called into the squad to provide second-row cover following a neck injury to Jason White. "We're optimistic that Jason will be fit for consideration for our Test against South Africa next Saturday," said Scotland manager Dougie Morgan.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. |
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