Australia v England - 2nd Test - Match Preview

England Team Manager Martin Johnson knows that time is running out and he and his men must lay down a marker this weekend in Sydney if they’ll have any chance of competing in the latter stages at next year’s World Cup. Northampton Saints lock Courtney Lawes and Leicester Tigers scrum half Ben Youngs will make their full England debuts in the second Test against Australia in Sydney on Saturday, kick-off 11am BST. Johnson has made two changes to his Test XV with Lawes and Youngs replacing Simon Shaw (London Wasps) and Danny Care (Harlequins).

Lawes, 21, and Youngs, 20, both made an impressive impact off the bench as England scored all their points in the second half of the 27-17 defeat to Australia in the first Test in Perth.

Fly-half Toby Food retains his place despite a poor kicking game in Perth and inside-centre Shontayne Hape is another to escape the axe. Outside-centre Mike Tindall has shaken off a dead leg and will once again start. The only other change sees Mathew Tait lose his place on the bench to Delon Armitage.

Leicester Tiger flanker Lewis Moody again captains the side from seven, with club colleague Tom Croft and Harlequins No.8 Nick Easter completing the back row, the latter speaking this week of being fed up of losing and determined to put in a performance he and his team-mates can be proud of.

Johnson has opted to stick with his front row of Tim Payne, Steve Thompson and Dan Cole after the trio impressed and dominated their Australian counterparts forcing two penalty tries in the first Test.

England will again face a stern test of their defensive qualities as scrum half Will Genia and centre Matt Giteau return to bolster the Wallabies back division for the second Test in Sydney.

Despite scoring three tries and producing some potent running rugby in the 27-17 first Test victory, Australia Head Coach Robbie Deans has decided to restore Genia at scrum half, despite Luke Burgess' excellent performance at nine.

Queensland Reds’ Genia has overcome a knee ligament strain while ACT Brumbies star Giteau is back at inside centre in place of Berrick Barnes after recovering from the hip problem which forced him to miss last weekend's game. Genia was named man of the match following his try-scoring performance in Australia's 18-9 victory at Twickenham in November.

Giteau is to resume the kicking duties from full back James O'Connor and in Australia's last two games at the Olympic Stadium in Sydney he has been their sole points-scorer.

England have plenty to lose with defeat likely to severely dent if not end some World Cup dreams. And such is their current predicament, even if England were to rediscover an ability to cut the opposition open in devastating style it would mean little without the result to back it up. Just as Australia are unlikely to suddenly become a force at scrum time in the space of a week, England will not rewrite the textbook when it comes to attacking flair so this game may well be a carbon copy of their first meeting. But victory for England could force an immediate re-think as to both sides' ability to conquer the world.

The teams:

Australia: 15 James O'Connor, 14 Digby Ioane, 13 Rob Horne, 12 Matt Giteau, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Richard Brown, 7 David Pocock, 6 Rocky Elsom (c), 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 Dean Mumm, 3 Salesi Ma'afu, 2 Saia Faingaa, 1 Ben Daley.

Replacements: 16 Huia Edmonds, 17 James Slipper, 18 Mark Chisholm, 19 Matt Hodgson, 20 Luke Burgess, 21 Berrick Barnes, 22 Adam Ashley-Cooper.

England: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Mark Cueto, 13 Mike Tindall, 12 Shontayne Hape, 11 Chris Ashton, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Lewis Moody (c), 6 Tom Croft, 5 Tom Palmer, 4 Courtney Lawes, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Steve Thompson, 1 Tim Payne.

Replacements: 16 George Chuter, 17 David Wilson, 18 Simon Shaw, 19 James Haskell, 20 Danny Care, 21 Jonny Wilkinson, 22 Delon Armitage.

Date: Saturday, June 19
Kick-off: 20:00 (11:00 BST)
Venue: Stadium Australia, Sydney
Referee: Romain Poite (France)
Assistant referees: Nigel Owens (Wales), Vinny Munro (New Zealand)