Tuesday 17 March 2009

England await news on Flood and Worsley

Martin Johnson is waiting for updates on the injuries suffered by Toby Flood and Joe Worsley before announcing the team to face Scotland on Wednesday morning.

Flood injured his shoulder when he slipped just short of the try-line at the end of the first half on Sunday - he wanted to stay on, but was advised against it by the England medical team.
Worsley required six stitches to a cut on his thumb.

Both players will be desperate to run out at Twickenham again on Saturday after their fine performances helped England to a famous victory over the French.

Johnson will most likely make as few changes to the starting side as possible, in reward for a blistering first forty minutes. He may take the opportunity of a relatively meaningless home game against Scotland to bring a few new names to the bench, although with the crowds and critics calling for a repeat of last Sunday's performance, he might also decide that if it ain't broke he won't fix it.

If Flood fails his fitness test, Johnson will be left with a tricky decision. Does he start Andy Goode, whose appearance on Sunday was uninspiring and who surely has no long-term future with England? Does he recall Cipriani, who has won some game-time with Wasps but is by no means playing as well as he did before that horrific injury? Or does he take a gamble and play Geraghty, certainly a natural playmaker but untested in the position at international level?

Interestingly, if England beat the Scots and the Irish achieve a first Grand Slam in 61 years by winning at Cardiff, England would finish the Six Nations in 2nd place. Not bad considering all the criticism the team has received.



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