"I applaud the changes Andy Robinson has made for the side to face Ireland. He's given opportunities to guys who have been playing well for their clubs - particularly the three London Wasps players brought into the starting line-up - and all of them will be desperate to give it a real go and take their chance.
Stuart Abbott's one player who always seems to excel at club level for Wasps. He's always been a good tourist with England squads and now gets a chance at home to step up and make the shirt his own.
Similarly Tom Voyce did well when he came on against Wales and then again in Italy. Josh Lewsey's probably a bit fatigued at the moment and I'm sure he'll be back, but Voycey will be champing at the bit - he's one of Wasps' best players and I don't think it will weaken the side in any way.
One guy who I'm sure has been very unlucky is James Simpson-Daniel, the Gloucester centre who was in the squad earlier on in the RBS 6 Nations. He must have been in with a shout before he came down with flu last weekend.
Simon Shaw is a bit older than his Wasps teammates and seems to have been around for years and years. He's always had people in his way like Martin Johnson, Ben Kay and Danny Grewcock but keeps coming back for more and never lets his standards drop. He's also one of Wasps' key strike runners.
This is a subject I keep coming back and I know I go on about it but having good ball carriers makes such a difference and Simon offers something different in this area. Yes, you want people who are a physical threat, but you also want ball-carriers who can spot good running lines, look for space and off-load in the tackle rather than those who just run into the nearest contact point.
I think England have got nothing to lose in this game. Maybe some of the players who have missed out have been unlucky, but with a World Cup approaching you need 25 to 30 players with skill and experience, not just 15.
A few words in defence of Andy Robinson and the England coaching staff, who've taken a lot of flak in the last week.
Clive Woodward was the head coach and catalyst behind England's success in recent years, but Andy was the guy making it happen behind the scenes.
His strengths are in his attention to detail, improving all those little one per cent things that make a player and a team perform better. Technically he's superb but I can understand that things can be difficult to move forward when your time with the players is limited.
I only worked briefly with Joe Lydon in 2004 but I know he's got lots of good ideas and works to improve individual players as well as all-round attacking play - encouraging you to know where you are on the pitch, what's required on different areas and what lines to run.
We all want to see open rugby but when you're not going forward, breaking the gain-line and clearing the ball away quickly that's hard to do and you're on the back foot. Similarly when you're in your own half it's difficult to take those risks. People go back into contact because it's a bit of a safety net."
Filed: March 16, 2005
Trevor Woodman was talking to Simon Mills
