Moody axed by Johnson

by Oli Skehan , 09 March 2010

Martin Johnson has made two changes to the England team narrowly beaten by Ireland for Saturday's Calcutta Cup clash with Scotland at Murrayfield.


Leicester flanker, Lewis Moody, who was pulled aside after 55 minutes against Ireland at Twickenham drops to the bench and is replaced by Joe Worsley.

Worsley, 32, has not played a competitive match for England since departing proceedings after only a minute in the 19-6 defeat to New Zealand in November.

The only other change to the starting XV sees Leicester's Louis Deacon deputising for the injured Simon Shaw in the second row.

Northampton's versatile lock Courtney Lawes comes onto a reshuffled bench which features a return for World Cup-winning hooker Steve Thompson and a first call-up for the uncapped Leicester scrum-half Ben Youngs.

England have lost on each of their last two visits to Edinburgh and Saturday's game marks the 20-year anniversary of Scotland's 13-7 Grand Slam-clinching victory.

England: D Armitage; M Cueto, M Tait, R Flutey, U Monye; J Wilkinson, D Care; T Payne, D Hartley, D Cole; L Deacon, S Borthwick (capt); J Haskell, J Worsley, N Easter.

Replacements: S Thompson, D Wilson, C Lawes, L Moody, B Youngs, T Flood, B Foden.

Subscribe to Setanta

Setanta Sports broadcasts exclusively live coverage of the best premium football, rugby and motorsport including Barclays Premier League, Rugby World Cup 2011, French Top 14, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, League of Ireland, Rabobank Pro12 and Golf from around the World.

Edit Web Part Contents