England must prove fit for purpose

The England management say all their players are fit and ready for this afternoon's tilt at the world champions of South Africa at Twickenham, but then, they said that about Andrew Sheridan earlier in the week.

The loose-head prop from Sale is suddenly nowhere to be seen as a consequence of the neck injury he suffered during the misfire against the Wallabies seven days ago, and if Martin Johnson's side disappear as completely against the Springboks, some very serious questions will have to be asked very early in the new regime's tenure.

South Africa last visited the old cabbage patch in south-west London in the late autumn of 2006: two years, two England head honchos, one Springbok coach and almost an entire cast-list of active performers ago. The rate of change has been astonishing. Today, the home side will start with only four survivors from the defeat that ended Andy Robinson's stint in charge of the national team, a couple of whom, Jamie Noon and Phil Vickery, feature in different roles. Likewise, the tourists will field a quartet of '06 veterans.

Since that match, England have played the Boks on four occasions and been absolutely tonked on three of them. The exception was the final of the 2007 World Cup in Paris, a tryless encounter than might have swung the red-rose way had Mark Cueto maxmised Mathew Tait's breathtaking raid on the South African line rather than allow the little toe of his left foot to slide into touch before grounding the ball. It was a gnat's crotchet moment in a closely-contested game, and those Englishmen who participated in it have yet to recover fully from the disappointment.

"There is still a feeling of regret," admitted Nick Easter, the Harlequins No 8, yesterday. "Rob Andrew (the director of elite rugby at Twickenham who finished on the losing side in the 1991 World Cup final) told us afterwards that we'd never get over it. Actually, I don't think a player should get over something like that. If he does, there's something wrong."

Johnson, contemplating his third game as manager after the wildly controversial sacking of Brian Ashton following last season's Six Nations Championship, was spared this agony. Happily for him, his moment occurred in 2003, when England hit the jackpot. But he cannot escape the reference point of October '07. The South Africans have just about hit the buffers at the end of a long year, they are riddled with injury and are playing this game on red-rose territory. Should they win more comfortably this time than they did last, the impact on red-rose morale could be considerable – not least because the All Blacks follow the Boks into Twickenham seven days from now.

Having been caught out over Sheridan – the attempt to conceal the extent of the front-rower's injury was hamfisted in the extreme – Johnson found himself being interrogated on another awkward issue when it emerged that Danny Cipriani, the celebrity outside-half from Wasps, had been fine-tuning his marksmanship skills under the watchful eye of Dave Alred, who was sacked as England's kicking coach on what became known as the "day of the long knives" a little over two and a half years ago. As England have a designated kicking coach in Jon Callard, was this not a trifle embarrassing?

"Not at all," Johnson said, in full fire-fighting mode. "Danny also works with Jon. A lot of players do things independently." As for responding to the remarks of Jake White, the World Cup-winning Springbok coach, on the subject of Cipriani's habit of appearing in parts of national newspapers most other players fail to reach, Johnson was not much interested. "People want superstars and they want instant results," he said with a shrug. "There is massive expectation on Danny, but it's important to remember that this is his fourth start in an international match."

Not surprisingly, Johnson was more concerned about building blocks of England's game – the scrum, the line-out, the winning of the collisions at the breakdown – than Cipriani's choice of kicking mentor or his preferences on the lifestyle front. The scrum, for so long the strongest and most influential aspect of the red-rose game, is in bad shape – even the Wallabies, unrated in this area, made hay at the set-piece last week – while the line-out is less dependable than the manager would like. Given the Springboks' prowess here, a sharp improvement is not merely desirable, but necessary.

"If we can do a handful of things better than we did against Australia, things will change,"Johnson said. "It's different being in a four-point game with 10 minutes go than attempting to chase down a 14-point deficit, as we found ourselves doing last week."

England v South Africa: Twickenham teams

England

15 D Armitage (L Irish)

14 P Sackey (Wasps)

13 J Noon (Newcastle)

12 R Flutey (Wasps)

11 U Monye (H'lequins)

10 D Cipriani (Wasps)

9 D Care (Harlequins)

1 T Payne (Wasps)

2 L Mears (Bath)

3 P Vickery (Wasps)

4 S Borthwick (Sar, capt)

5 T Palmer (Wasps)

6 J Haskell (Wasps)

7 T Rees (Wasps)

8 N Easter (H'lequins)

Replacements: 16 D Hartley (N'thampton); 17 M Stevens (Bath); 18 S Shaw (Wasps); 19 T Croft (Leicester); 20 J Crane (Leicester); 21 H Ellis (Leicester); 22 T Flood (Leicester).

South Africa

15 C Jantjes (W P'vnce)

14 J P Pietersen (Sharks)

13 A Jacobs (Sharks)

12 J De Villiers (W P'vnce)

11 B Habana (Blue Bulls)

10 R Pienaar (Sharks)

9 E Januarie (W P'vnce)

1 T Mtawarira (Sharks)

2 J Smit (Sharks, capt)

3 J Du Plessis (Sharks)

4 J Botha (Bulls)

5 V Matfield (Bulls)

6 S Burger (W P'vince)

7 D Rossouw (Bulls)

8 P Spies (Bulls)

Replacements: 16 C Ralepelle (Bulls); 17 B Mutati (W P'vince); 18 A Bekker (W P'vince); 19 R Kankowski (Sharks); 20 H Brussow (Cheetahs); 21 F Steyn (Sharks); 22 J Fourie (Lions).

Kick-off 14.30 Referee N Owens (Wales)

Venue Twickenham TV Sky Sports 2