Woodward rewards rookies

England boss Clive Woodward today named 14 uncapped players in his 30-man party for next month’s two-match tour of Argentina.

The brigade of rookies includes Sale back-row Pete Anglesea, Leicester’s Adam Balding and Gloucester winger James Simpson-Daniel, who made a stunning try-scoring impact for England against the Barbarians two days ago.

Gloucester’s Lions prop Phil Vickery will captain the squad, which also includes fellow experienced internationals such as Lewis Moody, Ben Kay, Simon Shaw and European Cup final man-of-the-match Tim Stimpson.

But there was no place for scrum-half Matt Dawson, with Gloucester’s Andy Gomarsall set to wear the number nine jersey in the Test encounter with Argentina in Buenos Aires on June 22.

Woodward has decided to rest many of his big names after a gruelling season, so the likes of Martin Johnson, Jonny Wilkinson, Neil Back and Jason Robinson will spend the summer recharging their batteries.

England leave for South America on June 10 and take on Argentina A seven days later followed by the Pumas Test.