Gomarsall the answer for England

England duty - the Premiership match against Rotherham on February 7.

With that in mind England head coach Sir Clive Woodward, attending an International Rugby Board conference in Auckland and due to name a provisional squad early next week, has two established men on stand-by in Gomarsall and Kyran Bracken. Yet their post-World Cup experiences could not be further removed.

Gomarsall has been a mainstay of Gloucester's push for the Heineken Cup quarterfinals, while the more experienced Bracken has sometimes played second fiddle to Canadian Morgan Williams in a Saracens team enduring a miserable sequence of results.

The final possibility for the scrum half role is Leicester's 21- year- old Harry Ellis - the subject of rave reviews at the weekend. Persistent rumours suggest his name is in the frame.

Woodward's first meaningful selection as a world champion will force him to make a difficult call between established stars with doubts over their fitness and younger pretenders without proven credentials.

Richard Hill and Jonny Wilkinson are two other key players in line for a trial by Premiership on February 7 - against Harlequins and Gloucester respectively, assuming they get that far.

The fly half picture was clouded by Sale's update on Hodgson yesterday. A scan revealed that his troublesome left knee, injured against Leinster on Sunday, may not be as badly damaged as first feared. But the best-case scenario involves a two-week lay-off and the worst could see him struggling to see any Six Nations action at all.

A Sale spokesman added: 'Charlie has to rest for a fortnight and then see his specialist, who will decide if he can start training and playing again straight away or whether he needs to prod around with a scalpel. He had a similar injury in 2002, which required keyhole surgery that kept him out for six weeks.'

Away from the on- going injury saga, Lawrence Dallaglio is poised to sign a deal that will keep him at Wasps for the rest of his career, after his agent denied reports that negotiations with the Premiership champions had broken down.

The 31-year-old No.8, widely tipped for the England captaincy following Martin Johnson's retirement, had initially been offered a new contract that would have meant taking a substantial cut on his ?240,000-a-year salary. But with the likes of Toulouse and Biarritz poised to pounce, Wasps presented a revised package that Dallaglio is expected to accept.

His agent, Ashley Woolfe, said: 'There is now an improved offer on the table and we are close to an agreement. Wasps have offered better financial terms as part of an attractive package.

'It is just a matter of tying up loose ends now and we are hoping to finalise everything in the next few days. The length of contract is one of the areas still being discussed, but it will probably be between two and three years.'

Ex-Canada boss Dave Clark has confirmed he has applied to succeed Steve Hansen as head coach of Wales. Llanelli's Gareth Jenkins remains the favourite amid strong calls for a Welshman following five years of Kiwi control under Graham Henry and Hansen.