Tindall in for unlucky Catt

THE battle lines were drawn yesterday for Saturday’s World Cup final as England and Australia named their sides.

Coaches Clive Woodward and Eddie Jones both made just the one change to their starting line-ups; injury-enforced for the Wallabies and tactical for the English.

The serious neck injury sustained by tighthead prop Ben Darwin in the 22-10 semi-final win over New Zealand opened the door for rookie Al Baxter to come in against the all-conquering English pack.

Baxter's place on the bench as backup prop went to Matt Dunning while young utility back Matt Giteau returns as a replacement after recovering from the twisted ankle that forced him off in the quarter-final win over Scotland.

Talk in the England camp revolved around Woodward's decision to bring back experienced centre Mike Tindall in place of Bath team-mate Mike Catt who had replaced him for the 24-7 semi-final win over France.

Woodward said that Catt fully understood his decision.

"We talked it through and we shook hands. Simply, Tindall was outstanding last weekend when he came on [against France].

"I have to select the side I believe is best-suited to winning the World Cup final."

Up in Coffs Harbour, their Pacific Coast hideaway north of Sydney, Jones brushed off fears the Wallabies would be outgunned once again in the battle of the packs.

England's forwards obliterated the Wallaby eight during a 25-14 victory in June, but Jones said nothing could be read into that result.

"We've got a completely different side to the line-up that started in June," Jones said. "We've got a young pack and they've got nothing to fear.

"They've got nothing to be frightened about. But we're really going to have to muscle up.

"All they've got to do is go out there and play well. And they will do that, they'll play with a lot of aggression, and if they're good enough we'll get on top of them, and if they're not, they won't."

The Wallabies got some unexpected support from arch rivals New Zealand, with coach John Mitchell and skipper Reuben Thorne both saying they hoped the southern hemisphere's unbroken domination of the event continued doubly surprising from Mitchell as he was assistant England coach for several years.

Thorne though said the Australians would have to produce a performance even better than they did in defeating the All Blacks.

"Being from the southern hemisphere, I will be personally backing Australia, but it will be a tall order for them because England are a formidable force ," he said.

New Zealand take on France in the third-place playoff in Sydney on Thursday and the result could have a bearing on the future of Mitchell and assistant Robbie Deans, with their bosses meeting on Friday to chart the post World Cup future.

England fans meanwhile continued to descend on Sydney with the Australian Rugby Union saying they expected between 30,000 and 40,000 Barmy Army foot soldiers among the 82,000 crowd.

Fears the city was turning into an England stronghold even prompted New South Wales premier Bob Carr to order the landmark Sydney Opera House, normally brilliant white matching England's colours, be artificially lit in Australian gold from today.