Woodward vows to take Italy seriously

CLIVE WOODWARD has dismissed any prospect of complacency creeping into England’s performance when they tackle potential Twickenham fall-guys Italy on Sunday.

The coach also made it clear he would not treat the RBS Six Nations Championship game against the Azzurri as a chance to experiment with fringe players.

"The players' attitude is spot-on there will be absolutely no complacency whatsoever," he said.

The Italians have already registered a win in this season's Six Nations by beating Wales but their record against England is dire.

All eight previous encounters between the countries have been won by England with an average scoreline of 49-14 and England, even with almost an entire starting XV currently injured, should have few problems successfully negotiating the third hurdle towards a potential Grand Slam.

The current casualty count would decimate most international teams, but despite Woodward being minus such influential players as Martin Johnson, Jason Robinson, Neil Back, Phil Vickery and Jason Leonard, England are getting on with things in their quest for a 20th successive Twickenham Test match win.

England can still parade eight British Lions, including new captain Jonny Wilkinson.

While Woodward has made six changes from the team that beat Wales 11 days ago, four were enforced switches through injury.

Although fullback Josh Lewsey and flanker Joe Worsley probably have most to gain from their inclusion against Italy and 20-year-old

Leicester centre Ollie Smith is on the bench Woodward stopped short of heading down an experimentation route.

Italy might potentially be England's weakest opponents of the campaign, but Woodward added: "This is not a championship to experiment.

"The England players don't want that, and I don't want to do that. This is my strongest team, which is what the championship wants, what 72,000 people at Twickenham on Sunday want, and what people watching on television want."

Lewsey and Worsley apart, of the players brought back into the team wing James Simpson-Daniel, centre Mike Tindall, scrumhalf Matt Dawson and lock Danny Grewcock Woodward is particularly relishing Tindall's return.

"He was outstanding during the autumn Tests," Woodward said.

For his part, Italy coach John Kirwan named a settled-looking line-up for Sunday's encounter with England at Twickenham.

Kirwan sprang no surprises with Ramiro Pez, as expected, winning the number 10 jersey in place of Diego Dominguez, who is being rested even though he played for club side Stade Francais at the weekend.

With Cristian Stoica ruled out through injury, Giovanni Raineri will partner Paolo Vaccari in the centre with winger Mauro Bergamasco recovered from the bug that has hampered him this week.

Scott Palmer and Andrea Masi will travel with the 24-man squad to Twickenham but will be confined to the stands.

Italy kicked off their campaign with a 30-22 victory over Wales and then lost 37-13 to Ireland both matches being played at the Stadio Flaminio.

Meanwhile, Australia coach Eddie Jones was a visitor to Italy's training session on Monday.

Kirwan said: "He asked if he could come and watch during the Six Nations when we played them (the Australians) in Genoa last November.

"I can get a good input from meetings like this because Jones knows British rugby well and we are going to London on Sunday to play the team that is undoubtedly the best in the world at the moment."

Elsewhere, flyhalf legend Phil Bennett has warned Wales to beware a Scottish backlash in Saturday's battle to avoid the RBS Six Nations wooden spoon at Murrayfield.

Scotland are currently bottom of the table after losing to Ireland and France more heavily than Wales did to Italy and England and, like the Welsh, are desperate for a win.

And Bennett, a member of the great Wales team which won the Triple Crown three years in succession in the 1970s, expects the Scots to come out firing in order to take the heat off coach Ian McGeechan.

"He has taken some stick for the first time in his coaching career and I fear Scotland will come out fired up," he said.

Bennett believes it could all come down to the performance of the Welsh forwards.

"We have the backs to win matches but if the forwards play like they did in Italy then we have problems. If they play as well as they did against England then we can win.

"Players like Kevin Morgan and Rhys Williams have pace to burn but I'm sure Gregor Townsend will want to pull the strings for Scotland."