Woodward retains five World Cup winners

England's starting XV for Saturday's non-cap match against the New Zealand Barbarians includes five players who featured in last…

England's starting XV for Saturday's non-cap match against the New Zealand Barbarians includes five players who featured in last month's World Cup final, coach Clive Woodward confirmed today.

Flanker Richard Hill captains a team that also includes Jason Robinson, England's tryscorer in the final against Australia, fellow winger Ben Cohen, prop Trevor Woodman and hooker Steve Thompson.

Centre Mike Tindall, the only other World Cup finalist in the squad, starts on the replacements bench.

Woodward has used the game to introduce one or two youngsters but his starting team includes a total of 12 players from the 31-man World Cup squad.

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Winger James Simpson-Daniel and centre Ollie Smith, both unlucky victims of Woodward's final pre-tournament cull, and uncapped prop Matt Stevens, called up as a squad replacement on Monday, complete the starting team.

Smith teams up with Stuart Abbott in a centre partnership and Gloucester's Simpson-Daniel, one of the form players in the Premiership, is another to bring pace and verve to the backline.

Paul Grayson, Jonny Wilkinson's back-up in Australia, gets a chance at number 10, while Andy Gomarsall starts at scrumhalf with Kyran Bracken on the bench.

Danny Grewcock, who was forced home from the World Cup through injury, and his replacement Simon Shaw, the only man in Woodward's squad not to taste World Cup action, pair up in the second row.

Most of the rest of the World Cup squad, including Wilkinson and captain Martin Johnson, will be at Twickenham to take part in a post-match lap of honour.

The NZ Barbarians side, already without their star attraction following the withdrawal of Fiji winger Rupeni Caucaunibuca, suffered another setback today when former All Black prop Craig Dowd joined the absentees.

Dowd was withdrawn by his English club Wasps after their director of rugby Warren Gatland said he was unhappy with the compensation offered by the Rugby Football Union.

England team:15-Jason Robinson; 14-James Simpson-Daniel, 14-Ollie Smith, 12-Stuart Abbott, 11-Ben Cohen; 10-Paul Grayson, 9-Andy Gomarsall; 8-Joe Worsley, 7-Richard Hill (captain), 6-Martin Corry, 5-Simon Shaw, 4-Danny Grewcock, 3-Matt Stevens, 2-Steve Thompson, 1-Trevor Woodman.