Toby Flood: What's it going to be this week? His little toe...
Sunshine breathes optimism, or so they say, and as the clouds finally lifted from over the England rugby team, their training base became infected with hope. Given the current climate, such buoyance is restricted to small communities, but even behind his well-seasoned face, Martin Johnson couldn’t hide a beaming smile - he even managed to crack a joke or two.
Behind all the doom and gloom of a shambolic autumn, pressures have ceased for now, and a fresh blossom has settled upon England’s garden after Sunday’s spot of French weeding.
In some cynical corners, questions were being asked, only whispers of course, but an air of confidence that has blown in the manager’s favour with Toby Flood and Joe Worsley’s fighting off the evil fitness demons to take their places in England’s unchanged side to take on Scotland this weekend.
October 13 2007. That was the last time England named an untouched 22 for a rugby international It just so happened to be the World C upsemi-final against France. Only four members of the XV survive from that evening with Nick Easter, Simon Shaw, Mark Cueto and Andrew Sheridan primed for Saturday’s Calcutta Cup crunch.
Flood’s shoulder is not as serious as Worlsey’s gashed thumb, which was believed to have split right down to the bone and according to one team-mate, the Wasps flanker rated his chances as “30% at best” on Monday.
It just goes to prove that miracles do happen.
Scotland hasn’t won at Twickenham since 1983 and will travel down to English HQ with the trophy following last year’s 15-9 Murrayfield triumph. Not one that lives long in the memory apart from the bitter taste Scotland’s ungracious celebrations left in Captain Steve Borthwick’s pallet.
If proof of the skipper’s growing influence wasn’t abundant on Sunday then Johnson's claims that he expects Scotland to come down with a “chip on their shoulder” and his show of “no sympathy” towards opposite number Frank Hadden should stoke the fires ahead of the Six Nations final round feast. As if they needed helping.
"Our motivation as a team has got to be to improve our performance from last week. You never say 'same again'. You want to get better. There is a big improvement to come out of us," said Johnson
Improvements on the field have mirrored those in the management. Experiments with Steffon Armitage and Ben Foden aside, Johnson’s continued faith in his cohorts, not just his chosen one, Borthwick, but also the umpteen sin-binners and his coaching staff, have been rewarded.
Naming the same team coupled with a win on Saturday would be a fitting end for the manager and his insistence on sticking to his guns. Even if the critics thought he was way off target.