England expects as Hodgson steps into the unknown

Six Nations' Championship Sale outside-half faces biggest test of career today as Woodward gambles on new axis against formidable France

Back In the dark ages, memories of which are fast being lost in the mists of time and the haze of a 100 celebratory hangovers, the Red Rose Army could not find an outside-half worthy of the name. Now that two have arrived together – the old line about London buses springs to mind – the selectors have picked them side by side in a hot flush of delicious anticipation. You can understand their eagerness, for when it comes to rank incompetence at No 10, English politics has nothing on English rugby.

Not that Charlie Hodgson, the 22-year-old inspiration behind Sale's spellbinding experiments in 15-man adventurism over the last couple of seasons, can consider himself first among equals, or even an equal among equals. He remains the crown prince to Jonny Wilkinson's king, and for all his ambition – "I still want Jonny's shirt, because I'm an outside-half and the reason I play is to be the best I can be," he said this week – he does not, in his heart of hearts, believe the situation will change in a hurry.

But Hodgson's achievement in forcing his way into Clive Woodward's starting combination for this afternoon's Six Nations tête-à-tête with France is highly significant all the same, for it points to a new era in the English game at international level.

The newcomer – only two previous Test starts, one of them against a pathetically weak Romania who leaked 134 points – has been chosen at inside centre despite being nobody's idea of an inside centre. He has never played there – not for an invitation side, or a beer team, or even at school, let alone in a representative environment – and knows no more about the position than he has managed to glean over half a dozen training runs.

It is clear, therefore, that Woodward does not see Hodgson as a centre at all: he sees him as a second outside-half, and expects him to play like one. And that is a radical departure from anything England have attempted in two decades. Since 1983, when Les Cusworth and Paul Dodge formed the inside-back axis against a wonderful French combination of Didier Camberabero and Didier Codorniou, almost 40 different pairings have been fielded in the Red Rose cause, virtually all of them consisting of a specialist 10 and a specialist 12.

True, John Horton and Huw Davies joined forces against the Springboks in Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg in 1984 (and a fat lot of good it did them); true, there were 20-odd games featuring two of Wilkinson, Mike Catt and Paul Grayson between February 1999 and November 2001.

Each of the above was – and, in the cases of Wilkinson and Catt, remain – career outside-halves who were occasionally persuaded to dabble with the 12 position for the best utilitarian reasons. But both Catt and Wilkinson had learned their midfield trade at inside centre, operating outside world-class stand-offs: Stuart Barnes in the case of the former, Rob Andrew in the case of the latter.

They understood something about the peculiar demands of that position when they were dumped there by England. Hodgson, on the other hand, understands diddly-squat.

On Tuesday, blinded by a thousand camera flashes and bombarded by very nearly as many questions from journalists unconvinced of his readiness for the task ahead, he made a very decent fist of appearing entirely unconcerned. In truth, though, he was as surprised as anyone by Woodward's decision.

"Clive gave me a ring in the car as I was driving down to the team hotel on Sunday night," he said. "Fortunately, I had just pulled into a service station, so I was able to sit there for a while and get my head around it. Clive is always telling us the numbers on our backs don't matter, that we are there to play rugby wherever we might find ourselves on the pitch. But I can't look you in the eye and say there was no element of shock."

Nobody seriously doubts that Hodgson, born in Halifax and a deeply competitive soul in the best Yorkshire tradition, can trip the light fantastic as an attacking playmaker. His bravura performance for Sale at Wasps at the start of last season confirmed Woodward in his suspicion that he had a special talent at his disposal, and there were subsequent flashes of something approaching genius in an array of big matches, not least the Parker Pen Shield final against Pontypridd at Oxford in May.

This season's efforts have been interrupted by injury, but the Premiership statistics, which reveal Steve Hanley and Mark Cueto, the Sale wings, as the leading try scorers with 22 between them, tell a tale nonetheless. Wings do not score in isolation. They score when their outside-half is pressing the right buttons.

If Hodgson has a question to answer, it is in defence – and especially today, against a Tricolore back-line full of pace and imagination. "It's the biggest challenge I face," he agreed, all 12st 13lb of him.

"Defence is such an important aspect of England's game, and the moment I became involved in the squad, I knew I would have to shape up in that area if I wanted to stay involved. I'm not Jonny Wilkinson, and I may never reach his level in defensive terms. But I've worked hard on my tackling and my general awareness of things when my side is not in possession, and I see no reason why I shouldn't be confident going into this match.

"I'm fairly sure the French will identify me as the new boy and come looking for me, just as they went looking for Jonny last year, when Serge Betsen gave him a bit of a hammering. But if I can make them doubt themselves by turning them with my kicking game, I'll have the last laugh, won't I?

"It's such an exciting prospect, the whole thing. I love the unpredictability of French rugby, that flow they have when they're on their game. I've been told to expect the unexpected, and I'll go in with precisely that attitude."

England are unusually upbeat about this latest attempt to put their most accomplished footballers on the paddock at the same time – something Woodward believes is crucial to his chances of fielding a side of World Cup-winning potential in Australia come the autumn.

While the coach cannot be certain that Hodgson will stack up defensively against an equally intelligent and physically superior opponent like Damien Traille, the high-class centre from Pau, he is utterly convinced that if his side are to make the best of themselves in this most important of years, wit and invention and off-the-cuff brilliance must take precedence over mere muscularity.

"It wouldn't worry me if every player in my back division played outside-half for their clubs," the coach said this week. "In fact, I'd be well pleased. At least they would be getting their hands on the ball and making things happen. We get too hung up on this position thing. When Mike Catt was playing centre for England, he was playing 10 for Bath. What's the difference in Charlie's case?"

There is no difference, except for the wholly relevant fact that unlike Catt, Hodgson has nothing of the inside centre's instinct. Not a smidgen. Whether Woodward admits it or not, he has seated himself at the roulette wheel and risked his shirt on this latest selection.

Traille and company may decree otherwise at Twickenham today, but at this premature stage in the Six Nations proceedings, it seems like a gamble worth taking.