Cardiff, Mar 03: England have not lost at Twickenham since going down 30-16 to New Zealand in the 1999 World Cup, a run of 22 matches. They have won every Five or Six Nations game there under Woodward. Ireland's only win in recent seasons was the 13-12 success in 1994 and their chances of a repeat are slim - "Its a place we don't expect to get beaten, it's as simple as that," said Woodward. Woodward said the omission of prop Jason Leonard did not mean the end of his international career after 114 caps. Matt Stevens has been named among the replacements. The Bath youngster played for an "England XV" against the New Zealand Barbarians last December, when he scored a try, but has yet to win a full cap.

"We thought about doing it the first two games but but we thought that was the wrong decision for those two games, which I thought were difficult matches for England," Woodward said.


"I would never draw a line under anyone's career and nobody has more respect for Jason than us."


Woodward was also unconcerned about the absence of locks Danny Grewcock and Simon Shaw, whose injuries have opened the door for Steve Borthwick.


Borthwick was picked in the original squad to play Italy but withdrawn because of a club citing.


With Joe Worsley returning to the back row, Chris Jones is back among the replacements after an impressive display against the Scots in his first start.


Bureau Report