Most Popular Sports
All Sports
Show All

England recall Haskell

Eurosport
ByEurosport

Published 18/11/2008 at 11:11 GMT

England manager Martin Johnson has recalled blind-side flanker James Haskell for the showdown with world champions South Africa at Twickenham.

RUGBY 2007 Six Nations England James Haskell

Image credit: Reuters

Haskell's inclusion in place of Tom Croft is the only change on Saturday to England's starting XV from last weekend's 28-14 defeat to Australia.
Croft is included among the replacements and is joined on the bench by uncapped Leicester number eight Jordan Crane, who has replaced Michael Lipman in the squad.
Otherwise, Johnson has kept faith with the tight five that struggled to impose themselves against the Wallabies and named the same back division for a third week running.
Haskell was one of the few England players to return from the summer tour of New Zealand with his reputation enhanced after two impressive performances against the All Blacks.
He lost his place to Croft, after making a slow start to the season in a struggling Wasps side.
But Haskell made an immediate impression when he came off the bench last weekend and he will offer a more physical presence against the dynamic Springbok back row.
Johnson admits he was tempted to make more changes but is trying to build a new team and decided to give his inexperienced players the chance to make amends for last week.
England conceded "careless" penalties and failed to capitalise on the opportunities they did create against the Wallabies.
"It's great we can choose between two very young and exciting players in James and Tom," said Johnson. "We want to get some consistency in the team. They are aware of the mistakes we made - but they have the opportunity to correct them.
"The art for the coaches is making the most of a short space to time to make a significant impact.
"You can't change a player overnight, and wouldn't want to a huge amount because you select them for what they can do, so it is more a question of getting everyone to understand what we are trying to do and then execute.
"We want to get some consistency in the team. They are aware of the mistakes we made but they have the opportunity to correct them."
Johnson said that after watching the Australia game again he felt England had suffered from their decision-making.
"As a team we have to become a bit smarter on the field," he said. "It's a new team, that's not an excuse, but we have to function better together.
"Some of the players' instincts have to be what we're doing, not maybe what they do in their club side.
"It's a bit about trusting the system and a bit of getting used to the pace and ferocity of test rugby. We had the potential to create two or three good try scoring situations last week but we have got to make good decisions.
"Australia did some smart things to put us under pressure; it was a harsher spotlight."
Looking ahead to Saturday's clash Johnson said he expected the Springboks to "keep the scrum up" after the mess of the last two weeks at Twickenham and said his side would have to improve at the lineout.
"They probably have the best lineout in the world at the moment and that's the challenge," he said. "They've also got some fantastic athletes in the back row but so have we and we have to take them on.
"Some things aren't optional -- you have to front up."
England team: 15-Delon Armitage, 14-Paul Sackey, 13- Jamie Noon, 12-Riki Flutey, 11-Ugo Monye, 10-Danny Cipriani, 9-Danny Care, 1-Andrew Sheridan, 2-Lee Mears, 3-Phil Vickery, 4-Steve Borthwick, 5-Tom Palmer, 6-James Haskell, 7-Tom Rees, 8-Nick Easter
Replacements: 16-Dylan Hartley, 17-Matt Stevens, 18-Simon Shaw, 19-Tom Croft, 20-Jordan Crane, 21-Harry Ellis, 22-Toby Flood
Join 3M+ users on app
Stay up to date with the latest news, results and live sports
Download
Related Topics
Share this article
Advertisement
Advertisement