In contrast to the selections of the autumn, Martin Johnson’s first Six Nations side looks much more like a team picked on form rather than in the hope that it would click.

Andy Goode’s selection at fly-half will grab most of the headlines, not all of them positive given the ever-present grumblings about a Leicester old-boys influence in the set-up and considering the facts that he has nine caps to his name, was never a first choice pick in his heyday and can be maddeningly erratic.

But if you want to deal in yet more facts, he is also the top points scorer in the French Top14, a league not bereft of fine No.10s, and he has achieved that playing in one of its mediocre teams.

Shane Geraghty is on the bench and has the ability to come on and ignite the game as he did in 2006 against France, but has probably not had enough game time to convince Johnson that he should start a match of such significance.

Goode may not have trod the Twickenham turf in an England shirt for over two years, but he his far more worldly when it comes to handling the pressures of intense media scrutiny from now ‘til kick-off and has more experience at dealing with the brickbats when it goes wrong – not that it should against Italy.

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