Rugby Union: Woodward World Cup warning for stalwarts

CLIVE WOODWARD steadfastly ignored the wider ramifications of the Dallaglio imbroglio once again yesterday by including his former captain in the England side to face Canada in Saturday's World Cup warm-up Test at Twickenham. But the most interesting selections, perhaps the most significant since Woodward took over as national coach almost two years ago, were to be found elsewhere.

With one exception - Will Greenwood for Phil de Glanville in midfield - he announced an unchanged line-up, thereby placing some sacred red rose cows in grave danger of a visit to the abattoir.

Having missed last weekend's 100-pointer against the hapless United States, five senior players - Mike Catt, Jason Leonard, Richard Cockerill, Darren Garforth and Tim Rodber - will spend a second successive Saturday night warming their rear ends in the stand. All but Rodber feature among the replacements and may get a run, but Woodward made it crystal clear yesterday that he had chosen his latest line-up on merit.

"To my mind, De Glanville was man of the match on Saturday; if we were playing a World Cup game this weekend, he'd be in," he said. "That aside, this is a full-strength England side." On that basis, the revamped front row of Graham Rowntree, Phil Greening and Phil Vickery may well face Italy on 2 October, with Danny Grewcock of Saracens locking them together from the second row. The average bookmaker would have offered long odds on that formation this time last month.

Things may change again, of course, especially if the rugged Canadian forwards put the squeeze on Greening and successfully cramp his attacking style. "Greening played well against the Eagles, but it was a very loose game," said the coach. "There will be games in the World Cup that are not remotely loose, so we need to see how things go. As far as Richard Cockerill is concerned, he's in the frame. How can you accuse him of playing himself out of his England shirt when he hasn't played?"

Down among the World Cup no-hopers, Victor Ubogu reacted to his failure to make the final cut by confirming his retirement at the end of the coming season. The 34-year-old Bath prop was by far the unluckiest victim of Monday's unexpected cull, when Woodward cut seven players from his 39- strong preliminary party, and he quickly decided there was nothing left to play for on the international front.

ENGLAND (v Canada, Twickenham, Saturday): M Perry (Bath); D Luger (Saracens), W Greenwood (Leicester), J Guscott (Bath), A Healey (Leicester); J Wilkinson (Newcastle), M Dawson (Northampton), G Rowntree (Leicester), P Greening (Sale), P Vickery (Gloucester), M Johnson (Leicester, capt), D Grewcock (Saracens), R Hill (Saracens), L Dallaglio (Wasps), N Back (Leicester). Replacements: T Stimpson (Leicester), M Catt (Bath), N Beal (Northampton), M Corry (Leicester), J Leonard (Harlequins), D Garforth (Leicester), R Cockerill (Leicester).