Johnson banks on bulk of Worsley to keep Wales at bay

England manager adopts muscular approach as old guard given another chance

(GETTY IMAGES)

The sudden departure of "Big Phil" Scolari from one part of London was among the topics under discussion in the England rugby camp yesterday, apparently on the grounds that "Even Bigger" Martin Johnson was feeling the same heat in another corner of the capital. Johnson did not buy the comparison for a second. "Any pressure I'm under is self-induced," he said. "If we win in Wales this weekend, our dressing room will be a nice place to be. If we don't, it won't be nice at all. But that's the risk of doing the job, isn't it? If you don't want the risk, you can always stay home and watch the game on telly."

Johnson was right to be disdainful, for there are no parallels to be drawn – leaving aside the fact that Scolari was born in the Brazilian city of Passo Fundo, while the entire England team currently give the impression of hailing from Passo Badly. Roman Abramovich may have high expectations of a Chelsea team that has cost him untold millions, but the Rugby Football Union is placing precious few immediate demands on its national manager. How can the governing body even begin to talk about a "results-driven business" when Brian Ashton's results were dismissed with such contempt a little under a year ago?

There can be no doubt that the former captain is in for the long haul, whatever level of performance his side turns in over the remaining four rounds of the Six Nations Championship, so in one sense it was just a little odd that he should recall two old stagers for Saturday's match against the tournament favourites at the Millennium Stadium – the centre Mike Tindall and the flanker Joe Worsley – rather than back the likes of Mathew Tait and Steffon Armitage, who might be considered more realistic candidates for World Cup duty in 2011.

Odd, but not surprising. Johnson is a rugby conservative in the Leicester tradition: a man who values experience over promise, muscle and method over imagination, dependability over fitful brilliance. Worsley offers the experience and the muscle, if not the dependability: he has accumulated the best part of 70 caps over a 10-year period while never quite cutting it as an automatic choice in the starting XV. Still, two out of three isn't bad.

Tindall has very definitely been a first-choice player, not least during England's year of years in 2003, but he has also had his down-times – often due to injury, occasionally through loss of form. "He brings bulk to the side," said Brian Smith, the attack coach, who might also have been talking of Worsley. It seems bulk will be a major component of the game plan in Cardiff.

This narrow approach might explain the decision to retain Andy Goode's services at outside-half, rather than recall Toby Flood – fit again after missing last week's game against Italy through injury – or summon Danny Cipriani from the semi-wilderness of the second-string Saxons side. It appears no thought was given to promoting Cipriani, who is now likely to play Premiership rugby for Wasps against Leicester on Sunday. Whether or not Wasps will confirm that their much talked about playmaker has signed an extension to his contract remains to be seen, but the word yesterday was that the deal had finally been done.

Flood, meanwhile, is among the replacements at the expense of Shane Geraghty, who showed some nice touches against Italy but put himself in Johnson's bad books by picking up a yellow card within five minutes of taking the field. Other changes to the bench see Luke Narraway, the Gloucester No 8, filling the gap left by Worsley – Armitage, who did little to catch the eye on his debut, is discarded completely – and Paul Hodgson, the London Irish half-back, replacing Ben Foden. Hodgson may lack Foden's explosive qualities as a running No 9, but the unfussiness of his work around the base of the scrum, allied to his exceptional cover-tackling, makes him an intelligent choice for this game.

While Johnson talked about the lack of pace in England's rugby against the Azzurri – "We allowed ourselves to get bogged down at times, while the tempo in the other first-round matches was pretty high," he admitted – he showed little concern at the criticism aimed at his side, not least from such luminaries as Lawrence Dallaglio, who accused some individuals of getting ahead of themselves by "thinking they are the bee's knees", and Jonathan Davies, who was heard to wonder aloud whether the players genuinely knew what they were meant to be doing.

"We're not sitting here saying everything's perfect," the manager remarked. "We had our frustrating moments watching the Italy game from the stand, so I'm not surprised at the reaction. But sitting where we do, we see the whole picture and never make a mistake. When you're down there on the field, it's not that easy. The problems we have are problems of execution. We haven't been accurate enough."

And then, there was a flash of the real Johnson. "When we face Wales, who are a very confident side, it will be up to us to put pressure on them, both with the ball and without the ball. We'll have to go down there and fight." Just fight? "And play, of course," he added, almost as an afterthought. Vintage.

England team to face Wales (Millennium Stadium , Sat, kick-off 5.30pm)

15 D Armitage (London Irish)

14 P Sackey (Wasps)

13 M Tindall (Gloucester)

12 R Flutey (Wasps)

11 M Cueto (Sale Sharks)

10 A Goode (Brive)

9 H Ellis (Leicester)

1 A Sheridan (Sale Sharks)

2 L Mears (Bath)

3 P Vickery (Wasps)

4 S Borthwick (Saracens, capt)

5 N Kennedy (London Irish)

6 J Haskell (Wasps)

7 J Worsley (Wasps)

8 N Easter (Harlequins)

Replacements: D Hartley (Northampton), J White (Leicester), T Croft (Leicester), L Narraway (Gloucester), P Hodgson (London Irish, T Flood (Leicester), M Tait (Sale).

Referee: M Lawrence (SA); TV BBC 1 (2.0pm).