England manager Martin Johnson has finally made changes to his team but his record on selection remains chequered in the extreme, according to Paul Rees in The Guardian.
"The issue of selection has defined the Johnson era. If players are given time to prove themselves, when they are left out they tend to remain on the outside. Danny Cipriani has not featured since November 2008 and four players who made more than one start last autumn, Shane Geraghty, Dan Hipkiss, Jordan Crane and Matt Banahan, have not featured since.
"If England have been accused of playing with blinkers on, the same could be said of their selectors. Johnson yesterday bemoaned the criticism his side has endured in the last two years, saying he and his coaching team had to pick up the pieces when someone was "slagged off". But was it the media who left two of his more creative players, Cipriani and Geraghty, in bits?"
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