Woodward ready to ring in changes

Clive Woodward is not afraid to tinker with an England line-up who have defeated both New Zealand and world champions Australia in the past fortnight ahead of Saturday’s clash with South Africa.

Woodward names his team for this weekend’s clash at Twickenham tomorrow morning as he aims to make a clean sweep of the southern hemisphere powers.

England are riding a 17-match home winning streak and will face a Springboks outfit reeling from a record loss to France and a shock defeat in Scotland.

Woodward made three changes to the team that overcame the All Blacks, one due to a shoulder injury to Trevor Woodman, for the Australia game and is prepared to do the same again.

“As for selection I will change a winning team if we think we can improve,” he said today.

“I think the changes we made last week were the right ones.

“I’ll think about it carefully, speak to Andy Robinson and Martin Johnson during today and announce the team tomorrow morning.”

Jason Leonard replaced Woodman and played his 98th Test against the Wallabies.

He performed well and is almost certain to retain his position as he inches towards the century mark.

Woodman faces a fitness test but is expected to again be ruled out.

“I have spoken to the medical team this morning and at this stage I think everyone is okay,”, said Woodward.

“Obviously we need to look at Trevor Woodman, if he’s not 100% fit we won’t consider him.

“Jason Leonard was outstanding at the weekend so we are very lucky in terms of the quality of players we’ve got coming through.”

Lawrence Dallaglio was relegated to the bench last week with Neil Back starting, while Ben Kay replaced lock Danny Grewcock.

Woodward may be tempted to retain the same team and try to overwhelm the Springboks, who are under pressure from the South African media.

The teams are in the same pool for next year’s World Cup and Woodward could be eyeing a psychological edge.

But there are some potential changes, the most likely of which is moving James Simpson-Daniel to outside centre, with Austin Healey starting on the wing and Mike Tindall omitted.

Simpson-Daniel has been touted for some months as the answer to England’s outside centre woes.

Another option is moving Tim Stimpson to full-back, with Jason Robinson shifted to the wing.

Number eight Richard Hill, who had a strong game against Australia but took a battering and left under the blood rule, could be rested, with Dallaglio taking his place.

Andy Gomersall, who was on the bench last weekend, could also be given a run at scrum half, but Woodward is most likely to retain his winning combination.

He has stated there will be no complacency against the Springboks, who he felt could have already had their minds on Twickenham during the loss at Murrayfield.

“We won’t be complacent, you can be sure about that,” he said.

“I watched the Scotland game and South Africa were not at their best.

“But we will put that to one side and the video we will be watching with most interest will be when they played Australia (in the Tri-Nations).

“They may have had an eye on playing England at Twickenham but I will certainly be selecting our strongest team to play against the Springboks.”