Trevor Woodman yesterday pulled out of the England side to face Australia at Twickenham tomorrow because of a neck injury and there are fears that he may be out of action until the new year.
The Gloucester prop picked up the problem during a scrummaging session this week. Though the England management said on Wednesday that they expected him to take his place against the Wallabies, a scan yesterday revealed that the injury was more serious than was first thought. He is not only doubtful for the South Africa match next week but is unlikely to figure in Gloucester's two Heineken Cup matches against Perpignan next month.
Woodman has been replaced by Jason Leonard, who will be making his first start for England since the 134-0 rout of Romania a year ago. Robbie Morris takes over on the bench, leaving Northampton short of three international props - Tom Smith and Mattie Stewart will be playing for Scotland - for the Premiership match at Leeds on Sunday.
Scott Quinnell is expected to announce his retirement from international rugby after tomorrow's match with Canada at the Millennium Stadium.
Quinnell, Wales's captain last season, has been hampered by a knee problem since returning from Australia with the Lions last year and he is not able to train regularly.
The Wales coach Steve Hansen said yesterday that he hoped to nurse Quinnell through to next year's World Cup, but sources last night said that the 30-year-old No8, who has 51 caps, would be making a statement about his future this weekend.
Hansen yesterday made three changes from the side that defeated Fiji 58-14 last weekend. The Llanelli second-row Vernon Cooper wins his first cap, Robin McBryde returns at hooker and Jamie Robinson replaces the injured Tom Shanklin at centre.
Robinson last night supported the England head coach Clive Woodward in the debate over decoy runners. "Two of New Zealand's tries last Saturday should have been disallowed because dummy runners took out defenders," said the Cardiff centre. "We used the system at Cardiff but referees started to blow us up and Woodward is right when he says there needs to be consistency of interpretation in the hemispheres."
Canada have chosen 13 of the side that defeated Scotland in Vancouver last summer. With four of their front five having experience of Welsh club rugby, their coach David Clark believes the Millennium Stadium will hold no fears for his side.
Scotland will field the side that defeated Romania last week for tomorrow's game against South Africa at Murrayfield. It means that Gregor Townsend remains on the bench with Gordon Ross continuing at outside-half.
"Gordon is controlling games," said the Scotland coach Ian McGeechan. "We have to give him the opportunity to build up experience in the international environment and it is not the case that Gregor has been dropped, merely that we have two No1 No10s."
England and France were last night told by the International Rugby Board to resubmit their proposals to host the 2007 World Cup because their plans "did not comply with the tender document".
They have until the middle of January to draft new plans. Rugby World Cup Ltd is due to announce the winner in April.
Scotland: Moffat (Glasgow); Walker (Borders), Craig (Orrell), Laney (Edinburgh), Paterson (Edinburgh); Ross (Leeds), Redpath (Sale, capt); Smith (Northampton), Bulloch (Glasgow), Douglas (Borders), Murray (Edinburgh), Grimes (Newcastle), M Leslie (Edinburgh), Pountney (Northampton), Taylor (Edinburgh). Replacements: Scott (Borders), Hilton (Glasgow), Hines (Edinburgh), White (Edinburgh), Beveridge (Glasgow), Townsend (Borders), Hinshelwood (Worcester).
Wales: R Williams (Cardiff); M Jones (Llanelli), Robinson (Cardiff), Parker (Pontypridd), G Thomas (Bridgend); S Jones (Llanelli), Peel (Llanelli); I Thomas (Llanelli), McBryde (Llanelli), Evans (Swansea), Cooper (Llanelli), Llewellyn (Neath), D Jones (Llanelli), M Williams (Cardiff), Charvis (Swansea, capt). Replacements: Davies (Pontypridd), G Jenkins (Pontypridd), Owen (Pontypridd), S Quinnell (Llanelli), Powell (Cardiff), Harris (Cardiff), James (Bridgend).
Canada: Stanley; Fauth, Witkowski, Cannon, Asselin; Barker, Williams; Snow, Dunkley (capt), Theil, Tait, James, Banks, Van Staveren, P Murphy. Replacements: Lawson, Tkachuk, Cudmore, Carlson, Fairhurst, Ross, Di Girolamo.
