Vyvan to lead England against Baa baas

Hugh Vyvyan will captain England in next Sunday’s non-cap clash against the Barbarians at Twickenham.

The Newcastle number eight, who joins Saracens this summer, takes charge of a team containing just one England World Cup squad member in Leeds hooker Mark Regan.

Gloucester provide four players in the starting XV – Marcel Garvey, Mark Cornwell, Alex Brown and Andy Hazell – with Vyvyan joined by his Newcastle colleagues Jamie Noon and Dave Walder.

England under-21 captain and scrum-half Clive Stuart-Smith was not considered because of a foot injury, while Rotherham prop Nick Lloyd has not fully recovered from a neck problem.

England head coach Clive Woodward today announced that props David Barnes (Bath) and Tim Payne (Wasps) have been called into the squad for next month’s Churchill Cup competition in Canada.

And with Bath’s injured David Flatman effectively out of the senior tour to New Zealand and Australia, also next month, Woodward is set to decide early next week whether Barnes, Payne or Harlequins’ Mike Worsley will travel Down Under as Flatman’s replacement.

Barnes and Payne could oppose each other in Saturday’s Zurich Premiership final between Bath and Wasps at Twickenham.

Woodward could not consider players from Bath, Wasps, Leicester or Sale Sharks due to those club’s play-off commitments – scrum-half Nick Walshe was an exception – while England’s sevens commitments in Bordeaux this weekend also took priority.

England team to play the Barbarians in non-cap game at Twickenham on Sunday, May 30:

M Horak (London Irish); P Sackey (London Irish), J Noon (Newcastle), K Sorrell (Saracens), M Garvey (Gloucester); D Walder (Newcastle), N Walshe (Sale Sharks); M Worsley (Harlequins), M Regan (Leeds), R Morris (Northampton), M Cornwell (Gloucester), A Brown (Gloucester), D Hyde (Leeds), A Hazell (Gloucester), H Vyvyan (Newcastle, capt).

Replacements: C Fortey (Gloucester), J Dawson (Harlequins), P Buxton (Gloucester), D Fox (Northampton), H Charlton (Newcastle), T May (Newcastle), D Scarbrough (Leeds).