Greening given England reprieve

Considering the blunt explanation for his exit two months ago, the Wasps' hooker had ample reason to be more than a touch surprised by his recall against France at Twickenham on Saturday.

At the start of the Six Nations two months ago, England rejected Greening as too indisciplined for the collective good and suggested he made himself less of a liability.

Forced to sit out the tournament so far fretting over the escalating damage to his Lions' prospects, he will return for the truncated finish despite having been sent to the sin-bin twice within the last week. No wonder, therefore, that Greening found it hard to believe he had suddenly leapt back into favour as England's No.1 at No.2.

'I was pretty shocked,' he said. 'I didn't expect to be playing for England again this season because the hookers have been doing very well. England's fast, open style in the last few matches would have suited me down to the ground and missing out has been the lowest part of my career.

'I've been pretty depressed. It was hard for me to watch but I know discipline is massively important and I've been working on it. Now I've got to keep my head down, play well and see what happens.'

A punch against Newcastle at Loftus Road six days earlier and a technical infringement against Rotherham on Sunday hardly amounted to reassuring evidence that Greening is back on the straight and narrow.

But England have left him in no doubt that a repeat of his performance against the Springboks last December is liable to have serious repercussions. In naming his team against Wales two months later, Clive Woodward let it be known Greening would not have been picked even had he been fit. 'He didn't have a good autumn series,' said Woodward at the time. 'He has to learn to play with more discipline before he gets his place back.'

Having started the Six Nations as a touchline water-carrier in Cardiff and spent a fair time since then recovering from injury, Greening knows he dare not fall foul of the referee as often as he did against South Africa. Clearly, Woodward believes the warning will have the desired effect.

'He's in on merit and fully aware of what's at stake,' said the manager. 'Our penalty-against count has been spot-on and he now has another chance to keep it that way. International rugby is about discipline.'

By allowing him to reclaim his position from Dorian West ahead of Mark Regan, England are making a statement which says an awful lot more about their overall strategy than Greening's ability to curb the natural exuberance of his running game.

The plan will be to run the French off their feet, hence their preference for Steve Borthwick to the unlucky Simon Shaw for the second-row vacancy caused by Danny Grewcock's broken jaw.

Rather than confront the French heavy mob by restoring Shaw, the heaviest lock in the Premiership as well as among the most consistent, Woodward opted for his rival from Bath. Borthwick, at 21, is the very model of the modern second-row forward and yet another international to roll off the assembly line via the Daily Mail Schools Cup.

Borthwick, a Cumbrian who was brought up in Preston, is considerably lighter and shorter than Shaw at 6ft 5in and 16st but is not averse to going in at the deep end. The last time he took the plunge was to challenge his girlfriend, Emma Robinson, over one length of the pool.

Robinson, a member of Ireland's Olympic breast-stroke swimming team in Sydney, gave him a big start and still won by a distance. 'I thought I was a reasonable swim-mer before I got serious about rugby but Emma is exceptional,' said Borthwick. 'I don't think I'll be issuing any more challenges.'

He will concentrate instead on introducing something new to the cauliflower- ear department - a degree course in economics and politics, which means the temporary suspension of an essay on the German political philosopher, Immanuel Kant.

Julian White's return on the tighthead of the front row while Phil Vickery rests his damaged neck completes the changes to the team which started against Scot-concussion during the match left him quite literally not knowing the score until that night, returns to an otherwise unchanged bench.