sport

Erinle to start for England

Ayoola Erinle: First England start

Ayoola Erinle will make his first England start after replacing Shane Geraghty at inside centre in the team to play New Zealand at Twickenham on Saturday.

The surprise selection of the Biarritz centre is one of three personnel changes Martin Johnson has made to the side that laboured to a 16-9 victory over Argentina last weekend.

Simon Shaw returns to the second row after recovering from a foot injury and Joe Worsley is back at blind-side flanker.

Johnson has also made one positional change with Ugo Monye switching to the wing and Mark Cueto taking over at full-back.

Geraghty, Louis Deacon and Tom Croft all drop to the bench, where they are joined by Mathew Tait, who is involved for the first time this autumn, and fit-again prop David Wilson.

Erinle, who was originally drafted into the party from outside England's 64-man elite squad following an injury to Mike Tindall, will win his second cap after coming off the bench in the 18-9 defeat to Australia earlier this month.

The 29-year-old has been selected at inside centre despite having spent the majority of his rugby career for Wasps, Leicester and Biarritz playing at outside centre.

Erinle offers a more physical midfield presence to Geraghty, who has been used as an alternative playmaker to Jonny Wilkinson in the last two Test matches.

Twelve months ago, Erinle was on loan at Championship club Nottingham having failed to break into the Leicester team and considering whether he had any future in the game.

Erinle's England ambitions had long since been extinguished but, like Wilkinson and Steve Thompson, his career has been revitalised by a move to France.

"If I am brutally honest, my prospects of playing for England were a dream that had been and gone. You try to hold onto it but as time goes on it starts to fade away," said Erinle.

"When I went to Biarritz I just thought: 'At least I will be playing rugby and enjoying myself'.

"Before that I was in a pretty dark place. I was questioning what the point was - but thank God I am in this position now.

"The Leicester coaches were apologetic about the fact I wasn't really given a chance and I had to make a decision. The opportunity came up at Biarritz and I took it with both hands.

"Hopefully if I get the chance on Saturday to come off the bench I will vindicate the coaches decision to bring me into the 22."

Erinle is relishing life in France, where a run of games in the Top 14 has rebuilt his shattered confidence.

"It is everything you envisage," he said.

"The French lifestyle is interesting, very laid back but they are hugely passionate about their rugby.

"They haven't changed me as a player, they have just made me more confident by playing me week in and week out. I have had my longest run of games in quite a while."

England: 15 Mark Cueto, 14 Matt Banahan, 13 DannyHipkiss, 12 Ayoola Erinle , 11 Ugo Monye, 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 9 Paul Hodgson , 8 James Haskell , 7 Lewis Moody, 6 Joe Worsley, 5 Steve Borthwick (c), 4 Simon Shaw, 3 Duncan Bell, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Tim Payne.
Replacements: 16 Steve Thompson, 17 David Wilson, 18 Louis Deacon, 19 Tom Croft, 20 Danny Care, 21 Shane Geraghty, 22 Mathew Tait.

Date:Saturday, November 21
Venue: Twickenham, London
Kick-off:14:30 GMT
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Alan Lewis (Ireland), Simon McDowell (Ireland)
Television match officials: Nigel Whitehouse (Wales)
Assessor: Patrick Robin (France)