Woodward must have Dallaglio on the ball

Woodward opted to use the media to get his message to Dallaglio, who has been dropped before by the head coach. Dallaglio loves a challenge and looks certain to excel against a limited but powerful Uruguayan pack.

Josh Lewsey, Dallaglio's Wasps clubmate, is also under the spotlight, although his place at full-back in the quarter-final match looks more secure. Lewsey's main rival is Iain Balshaw, of Bath, who will be on the wing against Uruguay, allowing Woodward to run the rule over both players.

Luger completes a back three that has real pace and power.

Lewsey spent this week trying to relax as the judicial inquiry into the replacement fiasco took place and found tranquillity in the Gold Coast surf. He is a keen surfer in Cornwall and enjoyed the chance to battle it out with the waves at Surfers Paradise. Lewsey said: "You either let the pressure to keep your place get on top of you or else get on with it and enjoy the experience of having so many good players around you on the pitch.

"You have to keep positive and one of the strongest things about this squad is the mutual respect.

"Of course, we all have our individual goals and everyone wants to be in the team for the knockout stages, but we all buy into the collective goal of doing well at the tournament. If that means someone else is picked above you, then fair enough.

"Our performances, in attack, have been below par and we gave away 39 pieces of possession in our win over South Africa. A team are not going to win big games making those kinds of mistakes. This kind of statistic keeps the guys humble and striving to reach a new level of performance.

"At least we are winning big games without playing our best rugby and that's a healthy sign. Whenever I have been involved in successful teams it's been when morale is high and everyone is relaxed. This week we have been given time to just chill out and enjoy the experience of being part of the World Cup. "I have been down to the beach to surf while other guys headed to the golf course, but come Friday we will all switch on again for the Uruguay game. If you didn't have some down time then you would become stale."

Getting stale has been a real worry for men like scrum-half Andy Gomarsall, outside-half Paul Grayson and hooker Dorian West, who have hardly been seen in the three matches to date. They are desperate to play and should ensure England rattle up a big win in Brisbane.

Gomarsall has the best pass of England's three scrum-halves and is fully match fit - unlike Matt Dawson and Kyran Bracken when they played. The Gloucester scrum-half could secure a place in the 22-strong match squad for the quarter-final by whipping out the ball swiftly on Sunday - something that has not happened in the three Cup matches to date.

It's the most basic of scrum-half requirements and getting the simple things right is vital for England on Sunday.