Smith takes the axe to England's backs

Tony Smith, the England coach, has sacked his entire right-side defence and brought in Chris Bridge and Peter Fox for tomorrow's must-win Four Nations game with New Zealand in Huddersfield.

Smith has left out Danny McGuire, Lee Smith and Tom Briscoe from the back-line dismantled by Australia in the first half last Saturday. In their places come Kyle Eastmond, who will start at stand-off, and a new right-wing partnership of Bridge and Fox.

Eastmond's partnership with another 20-year-old, Sam Tomkins, is the youngest pair of half-backs England or Great Britain have fielded in recent memory, at the expense of McGuire, who at 26 now looks like a senior citizen. "Kyle came on in the centres last week and did well, but his natural position is in the half-backs and we wanted him a bit closer to the action," Smith said.

There is still no place for Richie Myler, who started the tournament as first-choice scrum-half. "You have to take your opportunities," Smith said. "You can't be off your game and keep your position, because of the quality of player we are leaving out."

The area where Smith has been most ruthless, however, is the three-quarter line, especially that half of it decimated by Darren Lockyer, Greg Inglis and Co in the first 40 minutes at Wigan. Briscoe was substituted at half-time and now the England coach has, in all probability, called time on the rugby league career of Lee Smith, who joins Wasps at the end of the month.

That means an opportunity for two players who have been confined to water-carrying duties so far. Smith coached Bridge as a junior at Huddersfield and inherited him when he took over as coach of Warrington this year. In between, he had a spell at Bradford that was more notable for problems off the pitch than for first-team appearances.

Smith has found him more mature as a player and a person and has converted him to a specialist right centre for club and now for country. His first responsibility will be to stiffen up the defence against what can be an expansive Kiwi threat, but he has also been working on attacking combinations with Fox as they try to forge a partnership in time for tomorrow.

The Hull KR winger admits that he was "shattered" to be overlooked for Briscoe, who was not even in the initial squad, for the first two games of the Four Nations. The way Fox handled that disappointment, however, has been a major factor in earning him his chance now. "He was disappointed, but he took it well," Smith said. "If he hadn't, he probably wouldn't have been picked now."

The new pairing will be facing Bryson Goodwin on the Kiwi left wing, partnered by either Krisnan Inu or Iosia Soliola. With the tendency of the ball to go left more often, the new men can expect to be busy in defence.