England stay with winning formula

STEVE BALE

reports from Johannesburg

Given the premium the England selec-tors nowadays place on stab-ility - and how well this has worked over the seven years of Will Carl-ing's captaincy - it was not only appropriate but predictable that the quarter- final conquerors of Australia should be asked to continue their World Cup quest in Sunday's semi-final against New Zealand in Cape Town.

The unchanged England team were named after a punishing training session in Johannesburg yesterday after which Les Cusworth, the assistant coach, described the players as "the slickest they have been for a long time". Similar sentiments were expressed before the Argentina match with which England opened the tournament but, however good the rehearsal, one imagines Cusworth anticipates an infinitely better performance than that one.

Thus did Jack Rowell, the manager, scotch the idea that Ian Hunter might be preferred to Tony Underwood as a bulkier counterweight to the All Blacks' wing phenomenon, Jonah Lomu. Had the speculation proved other than idle, it would have been a rank injustice to the younger Underwood, the scorer of England's try against the Wallabies.

Moreover, England clearly perceive a weakness in Underwood's opposite number who, for all the carnage he is capable of wreaking with the ball in his hands, remains untested as a defender at this tournament. Both Underwoods are quicker off the mark than the All Black sensation and now they welcome some space to exploit this advantage.

It may not happen. Yesterday Rowell was grousing about the restrictions illicitly placed by opponents on his threequarters during their recent Grand Slam - which is not to say England do not offend in precisely the same way when the necessity arises, just that they always like to present themselves as more sinned against than sinning.

The manager was seeking to explain his side's persistent failure, while winning their last 10 Test matches, to put into practice the fluid and fluent rugby which he constantly preaches. "When we played in the Five Nations we were faced with weather conditions and systematic offside in the centre, which means you can't pass because it would be passing to the opposition," he said.

Rowell does not anticipate such a problem on Sunday because - as he noted with perfect diplomacy and no doubt in the hope that his views might come to the notice of Stephen Hilditch, the semi-final referee - offside in this World Cup has been more readily penalised that it has been lately at home.

In other words, all the vaunted England backs need is room to move. "Our forwards are pretty formidable but our backs are too, and not just on paper," Rowell said. "We haven't really launched them yet except against Western Samoa, and the bits of ball we got against Australia were under- utilised, perhaps because of the pressure of an immensely pressured game.

"We are working to set them free. We have an all-round side and on our day England can beat anybody. As we went through the Five Nations we felt we came out at the end having made a decided stride forward but without getting the width we aspired to. If we can get that, we will see the potential of this England side.

"I do see more available in the backs and we need to exploit it but that doesn't mean I'm worried about it. This team played last Sunday with immense will to win and didn't lose their composure after losing the lead. That's a measure of this team."

New Zealand, the World Cup favourites, are happier to change a winning combination and show three changes from the winners of the quarter-final against Scotland. Glen Osborne has recovered from his ankle injury, and with his return at full-back the All Blacks were able to name a full-strength side after their own intensive training session in Pretoria yesterday.

Osborne's inclusion entails the exclusion of the unfortunate Marc Ellis, scorer of six tries against Japan, because of Jeff Wilson's move to the right wing. In the pack, Craig Dowd at loose-head prop and Mike Brewer at blind-side flanker displace the quarter-finalists, Richard Loe and Jamie Joseph.

ENGLAND (v New Zealand, Cape Town, Sunday): M Catt (Bath); T Underwood (Leicester), W Carling (Harlequins, capt), J Guscott (Bath), R Underwood (Leicester); R Andrew (Wasps), D Morris (Orrell); J Leonard, B Moore (Harlequins), V Ubogu (Bath), M Johnson (Leicester), M Bayfield, T Rodber (Northampton), D Richards (Leicester), B Clarke (Bath). Replacements: M Catt, P de Glanville (Bath), K Bracken (Bristol), G Rowntree (Leicester), G Dawe, S Ojomoh (Bath).

NEW ZEALAND: G Osborne (North Harbour); J Wilson (Otago), F Bunce, W Little (North Harbour), J Lomu (Counties); A Mehrtens, G Bachop (Canterbury); C Dowd, S Fitzpatrick (capt), O Brown, R Brooke (Auckland), I Jones (North Harbour), M Brewer (Canterbury), Z Brooke (Auckland), J Kronfeld (Otago). Replacements: M Ellis (Otago), S Culhane (Southland), A Strachan (North Harbour), R Loe (Canterbury), N Hewitt (Southland), J Joseph (Otago), B Larsen (North Harbour).