Woodward rewards Lewsey's patience with England call

Everything comes to he who waits, even if the man in question is kept hanging around for the sporting equivalent of an eternity. Josh Lewsey, a veteran of the 1998 "tour of hell", has spent the last five years playing catch-up against Matt Perry, Iain Balshaw and, latterly, Jason Robinson, and his patience will be rewarded on Sunday when he wins a seventh England cap – and his first at Six Nations level – against Italy at Twickenham. The 26-year-old Wasps full-back replaces the injured Robinson in a side scarcely recognisable from that which beat the Welsh last time out.

Robinson has not recovered from the twisted knee he suffered in Cardiff, and with Balshaw out of commission and Perry pretty much out of the picture, Lewsey was a clear-cut choice for Clive Woodward, the England manager. Woodward has always rated the Sandhurst-trained soldier and yesterday, he congratulated Lewsey on his "outstanding attitude" since winning the last of his caps against the United States in 2001.

England's run-on team will show nine changes, three of them positional: injuries to Robinson, Ben Cohen, Martin Johnson and Neil Back are partially responsible, but Woodward has dropped Charlie Hodgson and Kyran Bracken. James Simpson-Daniel and Mike Tindall are restored to the three-quarter line, with Dan Luger switching from right wing to left and Will Greenwood shifting from outside to inside centre; Matt Dawson replaces Bracken at scrum-half; Danny Grewcock fills the second-row position vacated by Johnson; and Joe Worsley gets a run on the blind-side flank, with Richard Hill switching to the breakaway position.

Woodward indicated yesterday that Hodgson, asked to operate in the unfamiliar role of inside centre against both France and Wales, had done himself a whole lot of good, despite his demotion. "Charlie has performed exceptionally well while playing out of position," the manager said. "His contribution cannot be over-estimated." All the same, Woodward would surely have given the Sale outside-half another 80 minutes of quality learning time had he been serious about continuing his dual stand-off experiment. Instead, England will field a more orthodox formation, with Jonny Wilkinson calling the shots and Greenwood outside him.

Two English extras from the Cardiff date, the Gloucester scrum-half Andy Gomarsall and the Bristol wing Phil Christophers, are out of the 22 for the Azzurri fixture – they play for the second-string in Friday night's A international between the two countries. Bracken and Hodgson feature on the senior bench, along with Ollie Smith, the 20-year-old centre from Leicester, who has inched his way ahead of his rival from Newcastle, Jamie Noon.

Ireland have recalled Girvan Dempsey, the Leinster full-back, and promoted Marcus Horan, the Munster loose-head prop, for their Six Nations outing against France in Dublin on Saturday. Dempsey missed the victory over Italy in Rome because of injury, but is considered a safer bet than the more inventive Geordan Murphy, who returns to the wing. Significantly, the Irish selectors have resisted any temptation to tinker with the outside-half position. David Humphreys on the hottest of hot streaks, keeps his place ahead of Ronan O'Gara, now fit again after being trampled during Munster's Celtic League triumph at the Millennium Stadium last month.

The French will travel without their injured captain, Fabien Galthie – the Biarritz scrum-half Dimitri Yachvili deputises – but are otherwise unchanged from the side that hammered the Scots. However, one highly-rated Frenchman, the powerful Perpignan prop Renaud Peillard, will soon be entirely lost to the Tricolore game. Peillard has signed to play for Northampton next season as cover for Tom Smith, a certainty for Scotland's World Cup squad.

On the club front, Leicester will decide later today whether to appeal against the Rugby Football Union's decision to confirm Gloucester as Powergen Cup finalists following the regulatory ruckus over uncontested scrums during last weekend's semi-final. The Midlanders have written to the RFU requesting clarification on a number of issues.

SIX NATIONS TEAMS

ENGLAND (v Italy, Twickenham, Sunday 9 March): J Lewsey (Wasps); J Simpson-Daniel (Gloucester), W Greenwood (Harlequins), M Tindall (Bath), D Luger (Harlequins); J Wilkinson (Newcastle, capt), M Dawson (Northampton); G Rowntree (Leicester), S Thompson (Northampton), R Morris (Northampton), D Grewcock (Bath), B Kay (Leicester), J Worsley (Wasps), R Hill (Saracens), L Dallaglio (Wasps). Replacements: M Regan (Leeds), M Worsley (London Irish), S Shaw (Wasps), A Sanderson (Sale Sharks), K Bracken (Saracens), C Hodgson (Sale Sharks), O Smith (Leicester).

IRELAND (v France, Lansdowne Road, Saturday 8 March): G Dempsey (Leinster/ Terenure College); G Murphy (Leicester), B O'Driscoll (Leinster/Blackrock College, capt), K Maggs (Bath), D Hickie (Leinster/St Mary's College); D Humphreys (Ulster/Dungannon), P Stringer (Munster/Shannon); M Horan (Munster/Shannon), S Byrne (Leinster/Blackrock College), J Hayes (Munster/Shannon), G Longwell (Ulster/ Ballymena), M O'Kelly (Leinster/St Mary's College), V Costello (Leinster/St Mary's College), K Gleeson (Leinster/St Mary's College), A Foley (Munster/Shannon). Replacements: F Sheahan (Munster/Cork Constitution), J Fitzpatrick (Ulster/Dungannon), L Cullen (Leinster/Blackrock College), A Quinlan (Munster/Shannon), G Easterby (Llanelli), R O'Gara (Munster/Cork Constitution).

FRANCE: C Poitrenaud (Stade Toulousain); A Rougerie (Montferrand), X Garbajosa (Stade Toulousain), D Traille (Pau), V Clerc (Stade Toulousain); F Gelez (Agen), D Yachvili (Biarritz); I Harinordoquy (Pau), O Magne (Montferrand), S Betsen (Biarritz), O Brouzet (Montferrand), F Pelous (Stade Toulousain, capt), S Marconnet (Stade Français), R Ibanez (Castres), JJ Crenca (Agen). Replacements: J-B Rué (Agen), C Califano (Saracens), D Auradou (Stade Français), S Chabal (Bourgoin), M Barrau (Agen), G Merceron (Montferrand), T Castaignède (Saracens).