The former England captain Lawrence Dallaglio last night promised to win back his place in the back row after being dropped for the first time in his international career for Saturday's Test against Australia at Twickenham.

The emergence of the Leicester flanker Lewis Moody has led to the break-up of arguably the most vaunted back row in England's history: Dallaglio, Neil Back and Richard Hill. The trio have won 150 caps between them with Back leading the way on 51 and Dallaglio on 49.

Dallaglio, the Wasps No8, would have led out the England side on Saturday to mark his 50th cap had he been chosen. Instead, he replaces Back on the bench after a performance against New Zealand last Saturday which he candidly admitted was not what he expected from himself.

Back had been a feature of the England side under the head coach Clive Woodward for five years before his omission last week and his return means that Richard Hill moves from open-side flanker to the No8 position vacated by Dallaglio. The only other change to the side which defeated the All Blacks comes in the second row where Ben Kay replaces Danny Grewcock. The centre Will Greenwood and the prop Phil Vickery did not train yesterday because of minor injuries but are expected to be fit.

"I said last week that the back-row selection was very difficult, and that is with Joe Worsley and Alex Sanderson injured," said Woodward. "The choice against New Zealand was [between] Dallaglio and Back because Hill and Moody were playing so well and it was the same this week. Lawrence did not play to the standard he can and I am sure he will react like an angry young man and be out to prove a point."

"It was nice of Clive to describe me as young," said the 30-year-old Dallaglio, whose only appearance for England last season came against Italy after he had recovered from a knee operation. "When I have been confronted by adversity in my career I have always come back far stronger and this will have the same effect on me.

"I was not happy with my game against New Zealand. I did not get the ball in my hands enough and while I had been happy with my form with Wasps after a slow start to the season, you have to go up a couple of gears in international rugby and I did not do that. Wasps will certainly see the benefit of this selection and it shows just how competitive the battle for a place in the England side is: if you do not perform, you are out."

That theme was taken up by Back, whose role in the England side in recent years has been to organise the defence and whose absence coincided with New Zealand scoring four tries, more than anyone else had managed against them for four years.

"I am delighted to be back," said the Leicester flanker. "Being left out last week was disappointing and there were two ways I could have reacted: feeling sorry for myself and moping or being positive and motivating everyone in training as I normally do.

"I have never been a player to take my place for granted with Leicester or England and there was no way I was going to sulk. It is also important for the selectors to look at options because with the Six Nations championship now being played over seven weeks rather than 10, no one is going to go through that tournament unchanged and you will not win the World Cup picking the same team every match."

The theme of yesterday's team announcement was that England had played considerably below par against the All Blacks, yet still won, a tune they would have been advised to sing last Saturday evening rather than accept the All Blacks' bait and repeatedly deny that they were arrogant in victory.

Dallaglio said: "Clive has highlighted the fact that the first game of the season is always a barrier for England to overcome and the previous year we had lost in Dublin. There will be an improvement against Australia."

Woodward opted not to tinker with the back division despite a lack of fluency at times against New Zealand, pointing out that players such as Iain Balshaw and Dan Luger were injured while the likes of Marcel Garvey and Phil Christophers were close to forcing their way into the 22. The Gloucester scrum-half Andy Gomarsall has been promoted to the bench in place of the Saracens centre Ben Johnston with Jason Robinson providing the midfield cover. Woodward described Australia as the best team in the world, but they, like New Zealand, will not be at their most formidable.

England: Robinson (Sale); Simpson-Daniel (Gloucester), Tindall (Bath), Greenwood (Harlequins), Cohen (Northampton); Wilkinson (Newcastle), Dawson (Northampton); Woodman (Gloucester), Thompson (Northampton), Vickery (Gloucester), Johnson (capt), Kay , Moody , Back (all Leicester), Hill (Saracens). Replacements: Regan (Leeds), Leonard (Harlequins), Grewcock (Bath), Dallaglio (Wasps), Gomarsall (Gloucester), Healey (Leicester), Stimpson (Leicester).