The England coach Brian Ashton has confirmed that Mark Cueto will take Josh Lewsey's place on the wing for Saturday's World Cup final against South Africa in Paris. His match squad is otherwise unchanged from that which beat France in the semi-final.
Cueto has been selected, Ashton said, because of his international record in the position. "It can be a real aerial bombardment playing there, and Mark has a lot of experience of playing in the back three," he said. Cueto was part of Ashton's starting XV for England's first match of the tournament, against the USA. After playing at full-back in that match, he was moved to the wing and then dropped after a poor game against Tonga.
Ashton could also have brought Hipkiss into the centre and move Matthew Tait to the wing, but was reluctant to expose the more inexperienced Tait to the menace of JP Pietersen. Asked how close Danny Hipkiss had come to making the XV, he replied: "It was a pretty close call, but in the end we decided to stick with the team that got us here."
Appearing alongside Jonny Wilkinson and Phil Vickery at a packed press conference at England's team hotel in Paris, Ashton was bullish about his side's chances. "We've played better, we're closer together, and we're four weeks further on," he said. "We'd only played five games since we came together then, and now we've played four more and won them all. There are individual stars all over the team, but they've sacrificed themselves for the collective.
"I'll be very proud personally if we win, but it'd mean a massive amount for the players because they've worked so hard. We were written off before our warm-ups even started, but these guys have proved everyone in the world wrong over and over again." Ashton also defended his side against the allegation that they play boring rugby. "There is a massive amount of footballing and rugby ability in this squad," he added. "I don't think enough people realise that."
Vickery denied that the loss to South Africa - who name their team tomorrow - in the pool stages would necessarily provide motivation, admitting that "much as I'd like to be able to erase a 36-0, I can't. I always say that to know what Test match rugby is you have to play South Africa, because they are such a physical side."
It was with that in sentiment in mind that Ashton and England have once again opted for experience over experimentation.
England: 15 Jason Robinson, 14 Paul Sackey, 13 Mathew Tait, 12 Mike Catt, 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 9 Andy Gomarsall, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Lewis Moody, 6 Martin Corry, 5 Ben Kay, 4 Simon Shaw, 3 Phil Vickery (captain), 2 Mark Regan, 1 Andrew Sheridan. Replacements: 16 George Chuter, 17 Matt Stevens, 18 Lawrence Dallaglio, 19 Joe Worsley, 20 Peter Richards, 21 Toby Flood, 22 Dan Hipkiss.
