Jeremy Guscott's view

England have completed their three warm-up games ahead of their defence of the World Cup and it is hard to say there has been a real star of the show for Brian Ashton's men.

The forwards were clearly great against Wales and in all three games the pack did well, at least in patches.

Recalled second row Simon Shaw did make an impression.

He has been playing well for Wasps over the past few years but was not in favour with England for a long time.

The reasons why he was not being selected are known only to those who picked the team and there is no point looking back at why he was not playing.

We need to look forward to the World Cup and here is the team I think Ashton should select.

My front row would be Andrew Sheridan, Mark Regan and Phil Vickery, with Shaw and Ben Kay in the second row, and I would go for a big back row.

I would put Joe Worsley on the open-side with Lawrence Dallaglio and Nick Easter completing the trio.

I want a big back row because, while Tom Rees is quick and pinches the odd turnover, I think in a big game he's going to get knocked off the ball.

He might be a good guy to start off with against the USA in England's first game on 8 September, but for the crucial pool game against South Africa I would bring in his Wasps team-mate Worsley.

I also think England need leaders on the pitch, such as Dallaglio, while Easter is a big man - he is difficult to stop and can stop others.

I think I would also swap Dallaglio and Easter at blind-side and number eight depending on whether we were attacking or defending.

Whereas the pack has gone well the backs, for whatever reason, have not quite clicked.

It is frustrating watching them and it must be frustrating to a large extent to be playing in the backs at the moment - they are not scoring tries and clearly that has to be rectified.

England need to run moves with precision and that involves running the right lines and passing in the right places to the right people.

Until that execution is perfected then England will struggle to score tries, regardless of who plays in the backline.

There were a few positive signs in first half of the last game against France but after that the momentum disappeared.

The main area up for discussion in the backs is probably in the centres. I would choose Mike Catt at inside centre and Jamie Noon at outside centre.

Andy Farrell put himself about a bit on Saturday, which was good to see, but in my opinion he has not done enough to play himself into the number 12 shirt.

I would have Shaun Perry and Jonny Wilkinson inside them as the half-back pairing, with a back three of Josh Lewsey, Jason Robinson and Mark Cueto, although I might swap the last two around.

But I would just like to see the ball go down the backline with some authority, whoever plays against America.

We know what the England pack can do, it is time to see what more the backs can offer in addition to good defence.

I am not asking for fireworks, I would just like to see some indication that we are capable of scoring tries.

Source: BBC Sport