England look to Bracken to provide fresh inspiration

The last time England called up Kyran Bracken at short notice for a Test against the All Blacks, the scrum-half survived one of the more cynical sporting assaults in recent memory - a cold-blooded stamp by Otago's Jamie Joseph that reduced his victim's ankle ligaments to pulp - and inspired his country to a famous victory.

Ten years down the road, Bracken is back in the front line, even though he had prepared himself for another frustrating stint of bench-bound inactivity. If there is any justice in the world, he will play a blinder.

Matt Dawson, who understudied Bracken at Twickenham in 1993 and would have won a first cap that day but for his rival's capacity to perform on one leg, was the coach Clive Woodward's original selection for Saturday's match, but the strained thigh muscle that has troubled him since his arrival in New Zealand is proving annoyingly resistant to treatment. Andy Gomarsall, impressive in the latter stages of Monday's victory over the Maori in New Plymouth, will take Bracken's place among the substitutes if he recovers from a calf strain.

"We've been fighting over the same position for a decade, Matt and I, so I'm used to being in and out of the team," Bracken said. "I'd rather not be used to it, of course; but I've learned to deal with the ups and downs. This is a wonderful chance to show what I can do."

England's senior players, the Johnsons and Lawrence Dallaglios, seemed unconcerned by the change in their personnel, and it may just be that Bracken's more orthodox passing style will suit the tourists' needs every bit as well as Dawson's running game. The New Zealanders, startled by the comprehensive nature of the Maori defeat, have reacted in time-honoured fashion by accusing England of playing limited, unattractive and unadventurous rugby - "13-man rugby under union rules," as one newspaper put it. Nothing would satisfy Woodward and company more than the delivery of a vintage, all-court performance.

"It seems the perception here is that we are a wholly forward-oriented side, that we don't have any backs who can play, that we just love kicking the ball in the air and sloshing around in wet conditions," said Dallaglio, unafraid to take the verbal battle to the New Zealanders even though this is his first trip to the country. "We know we have broadened our game, that we are capable of bringing many different things to our Test performance."

England are ahead on points in the phoney war. The more the New Zealanders bleat about their visitors boring the pants off the public with the ruthlessness of their tight game and their unashamed pragmatism, the greater the boost to the tourists' self-esteem. Not that there has been any bleating from the All Blacks themselves. Their public pronouncements have been respectful in the extreme, and Woodward has spent much of the week returning the compliment.

"This is how it should be when two world-class sides are building towards a Test match that everyone wants to see," he said. "Some coaches play silly games with the media in these circumstances, but I don't go along with that sort of thing."

And who might those coaches be? "Well, I guess we'll be seeing one next week," he said, referring to Eddie Jones of Australia. Woodward does not always succumb to temptation, but when it comes to the Wallabies, he cannot help himself.

* Saracens yesterday signed the French hooker Raphael Ibanez from under the noses of Gloucester. The 30-year-old has agreed a six-figure deal.