England have to bring in Banahan

RUGBY:ENGLAND CAPTAIN and centre Mike Tindall has failed to recover from the ankle ligament injury sustained against Scotland and his place in the team goes to Matt Banahan for tomorrow's Six Nations Championship clash with Ireland at the Aviva Stadium (5.0).

Banahan replaced Tindall at half-time in the victory over the Scots at Twickenham and the 2.0066m (6ft 7in), 112kg (17st 9lbs) Bath player – he started his career in the secondrow – has been handed the number 13 jersey as England chase a Grand Slam, Triple Crown and outright championship victory in Dublin.

Banahan won his first five of 10 caps for England on the wing, where he plays the majority of his club rugby, but did start at outside centre against Samoa last November.

Harlequins number eight Nick Easter, who took over the captaincy when Tindall retired the last day, will lead an England team hoping for a first Grand Slam since 2003, a feat they achieved against tomorrow’s opponents at the old Lansdowne Road.

There are two survivors from that occasion in England squad for tomorrow’s game, Jonny Wilkinson and Steve Thompson, both of whom are included in the replacements. England coach Martin Johnson captained the team to their 42-6 victory in 2003, a year in which the team went on to win the World Cup.

Saracens wing Dave Strettle will fill the vacancy left by Banahan on the bench.

Tindall is noted as a defence linchpin and while Ireland will look to exploit his replacement’s lack of experience in the centre at Test level, Banahan’s sheer size and speed will be a real handful in a physically imposing midfield alongside Shontayne Hape.

Johnson has used just 17 starting players in the championship to date but the England coach admitted Tindall’s absence was a blow before offering his imprimatur to his replacement.

“Matt Banahan has been in great form. He was on the wing early on but he’s played quite a bit at 13 with Bath and he’s done a lot of reps there in training.

“He’s been very good and hopefully it will be a pretty smooth transition.

WALES (v France): L Byrne; L Halfpenny, J Roberts, J Davies, G North; J Hook, M Phillips; P James, M Rees (capt), A Jones, B Davies, A Wyn-Jones, D Lydiate, S Warburton, R Jones. Replacements: R Hibbard, J Yapp, J Thomas, R McCusker, D Peel, S Jones, M Stoddart.