Wednesday, June 3, 2009

New caps named in England line-up

Venue: Old Trafford, Manchester
Date: Saturday, 6 June Kick-off: 1600 BST

Bath wing Matt Banahan
Banahan will give England a physical presence out wide

England have named three debutants in their team to take on Argentina in the first Test at Old Trafford on Saturday.

Bath wing Matt Banahan, Newcastle prop David Wilson and France-bound back Tom May are in a side showing five changes to the one that lost to the Barbarians.

Mark Cueto replaces Ben Foden on the right wing while open-side Steffon Armitage wins his second cap.

Leicester centre Dan Hipkiss is paired with May in midfield and James Haskell comes in on the blind-side flank.

Flankers Chris Robshaw and Lewis Moody as well as inside centre Jordan Turner-Hall drop out of the squad completely while outside centre Jamie Noon has been ruled out with a calf injury.

Steffon Armitage, May and Haskell are all promoted from the bench following the 33-26 defeat against the Barbarians at Twickenham last weekend.

There is no place in the starting XV for Brive hooker Steve Thompson, who was hoping to win his first cap since the 2006 Six Nations after a neck injury in 2007 threatened to end his career.

606: DEBATE
JJB

The former Northampton forward, who has made 47 Test appearances, joins fellow World Cup winner Ben Kay among the replacements.

Leicester prop Julian White will win his 50th cap should he come off a bench which also includes Sale centre Mathew Tait.

Full-back Delon Armitage, fly-half Andy Goode and scrum-half Danny Care retain their places after recovering from minor knocks.

Argentina, who also name their side on Wednesday, will be able to select their French contingent from Stade Francais and Toulouse, among them Juan Martin Hernandez, Rodrigo Roncero and Juan Manuel Leguizamon.

The French giants lost their Top 14 semi-finals last weekend, confining those Pumas who play for winners Clermont and Perpignan to club duty on Saturday.

Saturday's match is England's first visit to Manchester since 1997 and two sides travel to Salta for the second Test on 13 June.

England: D Armitage (London Irish), Cueto (Sale), Hipkiss (Leicester), May (Newcastle), Banahan (Bath); Goode (Brive), Care (Harlequins); Payne (Wasps), Hartley (Northampton), Wilson (Newcastle), Borthwick (Saracens, capt), Deacon (Leicester), Haskell (Wasps), S Armitage (London Irish), Easter (Harlequins).
Replacements: Thompson (Brive), White (Leicester), Kay (Leicester), Crane (Leicester), Hodgson (London Irish), Vesty (Leicester), Tait (Sale).

ะพ 1:48 AM

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)