• Johnson drops Care and Shaw for second Test • England coach resists temptation to recall Wilkinson Ben Youngs and Courtney Lawes will make their first starts for England after Martin Johnson made two changes for Saturday’s second Test against Australia. The Leicester scrum-half Youngs has replaced Danny Care after making a lively impression off the bench in England’s 27-17 defeat to the Wallabies. Lawes, the Northampton lock, takes over in the second row from the veteran Simon Shaw. Both Youngs and Lawes will bring a level of dynamism to the England side after they paid the price for a lack of pace and penetration in the first Test. “This is a great opportunity for Ben, who has been with us since the middle of the Six Nations – the same for Courtney,” said Johnson. “Ben brings something different to Danny but it is not a reflection on Danny’s performance. It is just an opportunity to get Ben on the field. “It is a tough call on Danny, who has not done anything particularly wrong. Simon Shaw certainly hasn’t done anything wrong but Courtney Lawes has really stepped up in the last few weeks since we have been together. He is very athletic and gets around the field and is very aggressive.” Much to the surprise of the Australians, Johnson has resisted the temptation to bring Jonny Wilkinson back into the team and stuck by the fly-half Toby Flood and the inside centre Shontayne Hape. “There is always a rationale for playing Jonny but we are happy with what we have got with Toby,” said Johnson. “We can’t give them that many shots. They are a good team and they will get something on us but we made it too easy for them last week.” Mike Tindall has recovered from a dead leg to be named at outside centre but there is no place in the 22-man squad for Mathew Tait, whose seat on the bench has been taken by Delon Armitage. England dominated the scrum last week to win two penalty tries – but the defence was porous, the kicking game poor and they could not match Australia’s slick attacking runners. England have called Saracens centre Brad Barritt into the squad as cover for Dominic Waldouck, who is struggling with an ankle injury, and suspended winger Matt Banahan. The Wallabies have been boosted by the return of scrum-half Will Genia and inside centre Matt Giteau. The head coach, Robbie Deans, has decided to restore Genia at scrum-half, despite Luke Burgess’ excellent performance in Australia’s first-Test victory. Genia has overcome a knee ligament strain while Giteau is back at inside centre in place of Berrick Barnes after recovering from a hip problem which forced him to miss last weekend’s game. England team B Foden (Northampton); M Cueto (Sale Sharks), M Tindall (Gloucester), S Hape (Bath), C Ashton (Northampton); T Flood (Leicester), B Youngs (Leicester); T Payne (Wasps), S Thompson (Brive), D Cole (Leicester), C Lawes (Northampton), T Palmer (Stade Francais), T Croft (Leicester), L Moody (Leicester, capt), N Easter (Harlequins). Replacements: G Chuter (Leicester), D Wilson (Bath), S Shaw (Wasps), J Haskell (Stade Francais), D Care (Harlequins), J Wilkinson (Toulon), D Armitage (London Irish). Australia team J O’Connor (Western Force); D Mitchell (NSW Waratahs), R Horne (NSW Waratahs), M Giteau (ACT Brumbies), D Ioane (Queensland Reds); Q Cooper (Queensland Reds), W Genia (Queensland Reds); B Daley (Queensland Reds), S Faingaa (Queensland Reds), S Ma’afu (ACT Brumbies), D Mumm (NSW Waratahs), N Sharpe (Western Force), R Elsom (ACT Brumbies, captain), D Pocock (Western Force), R Brown (Western Force). Replacements: H Edmonds (ACT Brumbies), J Slipper (Queensland Reds), M Chisholm (ACT Brumbies), M Hodgson (Western Force), L Burgess (NSW Waratahs), B Barnes (NSW Waratahs), A Ashley-Cooper (ACT Brumbies). England rugby union team Rugby union guardian.co.uk
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Ben Youngs and Courtney Lawes to make first England starts
