Fast Eddie stands by his lean machine

Ten changes for England, no changes for Australia: the comparison could hardly be more stark. While Clive Woodward, the red rose selector-in-chief, spent the best part of a morning explaining the major surgery he had just performed on his starting line-up for this weekend's Cook Cup contest at Twickenham, his rival coach Eddie Jones breezed through the Wallaby formalities in about five seconds flat. Now we know why the Aussies have christened him "Fast Eddie".

Of course, the decisions confronting Jones were few and far between. The world champions won their last game by the fairly comfortable margin of 82 points, and while that outing – a low-intensity stroll against Spain in Madrid – was entirely irrelevant in terms of Saturday's little tête-à-tête in London, it was enough to convince the green-and-gold hierarchy that the élite players were still in decent fettle after a hard summer of Lions and Tri-Nations business.

Eleven of the side started the decisive Test victory over the Lions in Sydney four months ago, and it is reasonable to suggest that Jones has strengthened the team in three of the remaining four positions. Stephen Larkham, quite possibly the best outside-half in the world, is in the pivot position having missed the Stadium Australia experience through injury; Chris Latham plays at right wing, having replaced the errant Andrew Walker; and Ben Darwin is preferred to the older, more awkward but less energetic Rod Moore in the front row. Only at lock, where the great John Eales retired to count his medals, have the Wallabies been weakened – and that weakness is strictly relative, given the talents of David Giffin and Justin Harrison.

Darwin's inclusion at tight head – a Wallaby weakness at Twickenham last season, when Jason Leonard scrummaged Fletcher Dyson off the park inside half an hour – was the only serious tactical call. "Rod did exceptionally well against the Lions, but Ben will give us a little more around the paddock at this late stage of the campaign," Jones explained. Was he worried about the set-piece, in light of England's domination of the darkened recesses a year ago? "I have no lack of confidence in our scrummaging," the coach replied, sharply.

It is difficult to imagine Jones struggling for confidence under any circumstances; certainly, he would not contemplate changing two-thirds of his Test team without very good reason. "We like to base our selection on two things: merit and consistency," he said when asked about Woodward's baby-and-bathwater response to England's Grand Slam defeat in Dublin last month. "Would we make 10 changes for a Test? We would if we had to, I suppose. But given our selection criteria, it's pretty hard to envisage it happening."

What is not hard to envisage is a Wallaby assault on Jason Robinson, who plays his first Test at full-back against the most damaging kickers in the game. "You can't just go out there with the intention of targeting the 15, because so much depends on what happens up front at scrum, line-out and ruck," Jones pointed out. "But if we're dominant in those areas, perhaps we'll see whether Robinson really can play full-back at this level."

Those misty-eyed celebrants who congregate at Lansdowne Road for Ireland's weekend international with Samoa will also discover a thing or two about a new full-back – in this case, the Munsterman Jeremy Staunton, who replaces the injured Girvan Dempsey in a side showing eight changes from the one famously responsible for the demise of England almost three weeks ago. A lengthy casualty list and the proximity of the one-off Test with New Zealand in nine days' time has rail-roaded Warren Gatland, the coach, into an experimental frame of mind.

Staunton is the central figure in an untried back three featuring Leicester's Geordan Murphy and Leinster's Gordon D'Arcy on the wings. Ronan O'Gara gets a run at outside-half, Emmett Byrne and Frankie Sheahan link up in a new front row, Gary Longwell partners Mick Galwey in the boilerhouse and Kieron Dawson fills in for the incapacitated David Wallace on the open-side flank. Anthony Foley captains the side from No 8.

There will be another raft of fresh faces in Paris, where France meet South Africa on Saturday night. Tony Marsh, a 29-year-old Maori centre from Auckland who now earns his daily bread at Montferrand, will win a first cap for the Tricolores following the late withdrawal of Xavier Garbajosa – a development that increases the home side's debutants to six. Intriguingly, Marsh is on a collision course with a new Springbok midfielder in the shape of Natal's Trevor Halstead. The Boks have also nominated the flanker A J Venter for a first Test start, while recalling two World Cup veterans in Pieter Rossouw and Ollie le Roux at wing and prop respectively.