News

Cipriani dropped by Johnson

November 25 2008

Danny Cipriani has been dropped from the England team to play New Zealand at Twickenham on Saturday.

Leicester's Toby Flood will replace Cipriani at fly-half as one of three changes made by Team Manager Martin Johnson following last weekend's record home defeat to South Africa.

Flank Tom Rees has also been dropped to the bench with Michael Lipman to start on the open-side while Nick Kennedy returns to the second-row in place of Tom Palmer.

On the bench, there is also a call-up for in-form centre Dan Hipkiss as Johnson opts for a four-three split of forwards to backs for the first time of his reign.

At prop, Andrew Sheridan has missed out with a neck injury but New Zealand-born inside centre Riki Flutey has recovered from a hamstring problem to line up against the All Blacks.

Johnson had promised there would be no sweeping changes to the side crushed 42-6 by the Springboks last weekend - but the decision to replace Cipriani with Flood was not unexpected.

Cipriani recovered from a gruesome dislocated fracture of the ankle six weeks early in order to play for England this autumn but he has failed to live up to the huge expectations.

The 21-year-old awarded himself just five out of ten for his performance in the win over the Pacific Islands before struggling technically and tactically against both Australia and the Springboks.

Cipriani has had two kicks charged down this autumn that have led directly to tries - against the Pacific Islanders and South Africa - and there remain concerns over his defence.

Flood's last England start came against the All Blacks in the second Test of the summer tour to New Zealand.

However, the decision to replace Rees with Lipman came as a surprise given the Wasps flank was one of the England players to have impressed against the Wallabies and Springboks.

England: 15 Delon Armitage, 14 Paul Sackey, 13 Jamie Noon, 12 Riki Flutey, 11 Ugo Monye, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Danny Care, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Michael Lipman, 6 James Haskell, 5 Nick Kennedy, 4 Steve Borthwick (c), 3 Phil Vickery, 2 Lee Mears, 1 Tim Payne.

Replacements: 16 Dylan Hartley, 17 Matt Stevens, 18 Tom Croft, 19 Tom Rees, 20 Harry Ellis, 21 Danny Cipriani, 22 Dan Hipkiss.

Date: Saturday, November 29

Venue: Twickenham

Kick-off: 14:30 GMT

Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)

Touch judges: Nigel Owens (Wales), George Clancy (Ireland)

Television match official: Tim Hayes (Wales)

Assessor: Steve Hilditch (Ireland)