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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Not exactly much very bold about Martin Johnson’s changes to his 32-man Elite Player squad but nice to see Ben Foden included.

Other than that Johnson has principally used his five allotted changes to make permanent fixtures those who were called up due to injury in the autumn.

There seems little value in having retained Tom Rees when it is widely held that he will not recover from his lates knee injury until the very end of the RBS Six Nations.

It would have made more sense to bring the in-form Steffon Armitage in right away, but such are the befuddling rules that govern the number of changes Johnson is allowed to make the London Irish man is left in the Saxons with the crumb of comfort that if he stays fit over the next two weeks of European Cup rugby he will probably get the nod.

The root cause of England’s problems in the autumn was that any attacking ball they had was reduced to being used at a snail’s pace because of powderpuff rucking and forwards taking the ball from a standing start.

Armitage has shown in recent weeks that he detonates rucks like a bouncing bomb and comes on to the ball like a runaway train. He must be given his chance.

Elsewhere in the pack there have been no personnel changes that would genuinely shake things up but if Matt Stevens and Andrew Sheridan are called into Johnson's office and are seen hours later, scurrying from his door with reddened faces, then the message will have been sent that it's time their considerable reputations were matched by some far more considerable deeds.

It's also time to take the shackles off Dylan Hartley. He has a bigger presence than Lee Mears in scrum and loose and questions over his temperament will never really be answered until he is subjected to 80 minutes of rough stuff in arenas like Croke Park and the Millennium Stadium.

In the backs it is doubtful Foden will start given the outstanding form shown by Delon Armitage in the autumn but there is a strong case for Mike Tindall to come back into the side.

Jamie Noon offered little at outside centre in November and is playing in a Newcastle side woefully short of confidence and even shorter on quality.

Tindall is playing his best rugby since joining Gloucester and, as long as someone gives him a lift to Pennyhill Park, he should be harnessed with Riki Flutey in training to allow the pair to gel.

On the wings, Paul Sackey, purveyor of high-performance cars, is in danger of being overtaken by Mark Cueto, who ditched his own flash motor some while back to try and cure his back troubles.

It worked, and Cueto is red hot once again. On the other flank, no reason to drop Ugo Monye who now replaces the luckless James Simpson-Daniel who has once again fallen from view due to injury.


My starting side would go something like this:

Delon Armitage; Ugo Monye; Mark Cueto; Mike Tindall; Riki Flutey; Danny Cipriani; Danny Care; Nick Easter; Tom Croft; Steffon Armitage; Nick Kennedy; Steve Borthwick; Matt Stevens; Dylan Hartley; Andrew Sheridan