Martin Johnson has left out centre Riki Flutey as widley predicted, but has called in his uncapped Wasps team-mate, scrum-half Joe Simpson, in the 30-man World Cup squad. The loss of Danny Care last week convinced Martin Johnson he needed to take three scrum-halves, with Simpson joining Ben Youngs and Richard Wigglesworth. Flutey lost out to Shontayne Hape, Mike Tindall, Manu Tuilagi and Matt Banahan as the centre choices.
Lewis Moody, who is working to be fit for the opening World Cup match against Argentina on 10 September, will captain the squad.
Moody travels as one of only five back-row specialists, with Sale open-side Hendre Fourie also missing out.
With continuing concerns over Andrew Sheridan’s fitness and the destructive nature of the role, Johnson has gone for five props with David Wilson adding extra cover, and four specialist locks. This allows Simon Shaw, 38 on 1 September, to become one of the oldest players to appear in a World Cup [previous Uruguay captain Diego Ormaechea was 40 in 1999]. Shaw who was brought out as a replacement in 2003 but did not get on, was one of the top performers in England’s run to the final four years ago.
Johnson said: (quote) Flutey took it very well. We just felt we can cover 12 in a number of different ways. We have some good options there. Regarding the scrumhalves, he said; It is such a key position, it wouldn’t be fair on that player [the replacement] or the team to be in that position. (end quote)
Squad
Forwards: (17)
Props: Dan Cole (Leicester, Age 24, 17 caps), Alex Corbisiero (London Irish, 22, 6), Andrew Sheridan (Sale, 31, 38), Matt Stevens (Saracens, 28, 34), David Wilson (Bath, 26, 18).
Hookers: Dylan Hartley (Northampton, 25, 29), Lee Mears (Bath, 32, 37), Steve Thompson (Wasps, 33, 67).
Locks: Louis Deacon (Leicester, 30, 24), Courtney Lawes (Northampton, 22, 9), Tom Palmer (Stade Francais, 32, 27), Simon Shaw (unattached, 37, 67).
Back row: Tom Croft (Leicester, 25, 25), Nick Easter (Harlequins, 33, 44), James Haskell (Ricoh Black Rams, 26, 36), Lewis Moody (Bath, 33, 67), Tom Wood (Northampton, 24, 7).
Backs: (13)
Full-backs/wings: Delon Armitage (London Irish, 27, 20), Ben Foden (Northampton, 26, 16), Chris Ashton (Northampton, 24, 12), Mark Cueto (Sale, 31, 52).
Centres: Matt Banahan (Bath, 24, 13), Shontayne Hape (London Irish, 30, 12), Mike Tindall (Gloucester, 32, 71), Manu Tuilagi (Leicester, 20, 1).
Fly-halves: Toby Flood (Leicester, 26, 41), Jonny Wilkinson (Toulon, 32, 86).
Scrum-halves: Joe Simpson (Wasps, 23, 0), Richard Wigglesworth (Saracens, 28, 7), Ben Youngs (Leicester, 21, 12).
this is one of THE most solid and balanced SQUADS i have seen named for this rwc.focus on what you need to do and dont get sucked into all this gamesmanship with the ABs.