England coach wields axe in bid to fix chariot

DEFIANT England boss Andy Robinson is confident he can put his ailing world champions back on track despite another season of underachievement in the Six Nations.

RFU chiefs plan to complete a review of England’s Six Nations performances in the coming weeks amid calls for changes to Robinson’s coaching support staff.

Robinson looks likely to continue in the hotseat for England’s 2007 World Cup defence, but there is widespread agreement that his team cannot afford another demoralising display against Ireland on Saturday like the one they produced in Paris last weekend.

Robinson has wielded the axe and dropped six World Cup winners for the Twickenham clash.

With Sale fly-half Charlie Hodgson sidelined by a hamstring injury and prop Matt Stevens moving from loose to tight head, Robinson’s eight changes represent the most radical surgery by an England coach in the championship for 20 years.

Full-back Josh Lewsey, centre Mike Tindall, scrum-half Matt Dawson, hooker Steve Thompson, prop Julian White and lock Danny Grewcock - with more than 300 test caps between them - have all been demoted.

All bar Lewsey are relegated to the bench, while there are starts for Tom Voyce at full-back, Wasps centre Stuart Abbott, Leicester scrum-half Harry Ellis, Sale prop Andrew Sheridan, Bath hooker Lee Mears and Wasps lock Simon Shaw.

Leicester’s Andy Goode takes over from the stricken Hodgson, and will make his first Six Nations start, along with Abbott and Mears.

Newcastle fly-half Dave Walder, meanwhile, has been drafted on to the bench as cover for Goode.

There has been an outcry since England’s demise at Stade de France, and Robinson accepts criticism is justified following the miserable performance.

“There are a lot of upset and distraught people in the squad, as are the public, and rightly so,” said Robinson.

“This England team is moving forward - it has taken a couple of backward steps - but it is something we will be able to sort out, and making these changes is right to give players an opportunity.

“We didn’t turn up last weekend. The guys are hurting inside and they are desperate to get on the pitch and show the last couple of weeks have just been bad days in the office.

“I did not expect that result. I am just disappointed for the players because after the Italy game and going into the Scotland match, I really believed we could achieve something big this season. Unfortunately, through individual errors, we have lost an opportunity to do something special.”

Lewsey has paid the price for a startling form loss, which was emphasised when his defensive blunder helped gift France a try after just 43 seconds in Paris.

Tindall’s demotion was also widely expected after he failed to fire in a midfield partnership alongside Jamie Noon, and Noon now has a new centre colleague in Abbott.

Goode, among only a handful of players to have amassed more than 1,000 Premiership points, has featured three times for England off the bench - against Italy and Scotland last season, then France last weekend.

Shaw, meanwhile, wins a 34th cap at the surprise expense of Grewcock, but like Abbott, he has not started an England test since the 2004 summer tour of New Zealand and Australia.

And Mears is now promoted to the starting line-up following four outings off the bench, yet Thompson’s omission is also a shock.

Robinson, though, has resisted any temptation to dabble with the back row, retaining the combination of Joe Worsley, Louis Moody and skipper Martin Corry, while keeping Lawrence Dallaglio among the substitutes.