CROFT IS AXED BY ENGLISH; EXCLUSIVE.Byline: ALEX SPINK ENGLAND have responded to their autumn crisis by axing Tom Croft - 24 hours after he was short-listed for World Player of the Year. The Leicester and Lions back row star is nominated alongside the likes of Brian O'Driscoll Brian Gerald O'Driscoll (born 21 January 1979) is an Irish professional rugby union player. He is the current captain of the Ireland national rugby union team, and was captain of the British and Irish Lions for their 2005 tour of New Zealand. , Richie McCaw Richard Hugh "Richie" McCaw (born December 31 1980 in Kurow, Oamaru) is a New Zealand rugby union player. He plays in the openside flanker position and is the current captain of New Zealand. and Matt Giteau Matt Giteau (born on September 29, 1982 in Sydney, Australia) is an Australian rugby union footballer playing for the Western Force. Matt went to St Edmund's College, Canberra, which has produced many Wallabies such as George Gregan, Matt Henjak and the former rugby league star for rugby's most prestigious award. But today he will be dropped from England's misfiring team in favour of Joe Worsley, one of three changes made by Martin Johnson for Saturday's clash with New Zealand New Zealand (zē`lənd), island country (2005 est. pop. 4,035,000), 104,454 sq mi (270,534 sq km), in the S Pacific Ocean, over 1,000 mi (1,600 km) SE of Australia. The capital is Wellington; the largest city and leading port is Auckland. . As expected fit-again Simon Shaw replaces Louis Deacon in the second row but there is a shock in midfield where 17-stone Ayoola Erinle gets his first start in place of Shane Geraghty. Despite his nightmare at full-back against Argentina, Ugo Monye keeps his place but is switched to his specialist position of wing with Mark Cueto moving the other way. England have decided that their best - and possibly only - hope of making a game of it against the world's topranked side is to adopt a more aggressive style of play. Drawing inspiration from the way the Lions played against South Africa, they aim to take the game to the All Blacks - smashing it up in attack and blitzing in defence. "We want to put more pace in our game," said captain Steve Borthwick. "We have not played to our potential and the challenge is to play to our limits on Saturday. "We need to find out exactly where those limits are. We need to maximise our ability. We need to do what we are doing better." PROBABLE TEAM: M Cueto; U Monye, D Hipkiss, A Erinle, M Banahan; J Wilkinson, P Hodgson; T Payne, D Hartley, D Bell, S Shaw, S Borthwick (capt), J Worsley, L Moody, J Haskell. CAPTION(S): NOMINEE Croft's in running for World Player of Year award |
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