Woodward makes four changes to England side

England boss Clive Woodward has made four changes from the side that beat South Africa for the Six Nations Championship opener against Wales in Cardiff.

England boss Clive Woodward has made four changes from the side that beat South Africa for the Six Nations Championship opener against Wales in Cardiff.

Bath pair Iain Balshaw and Mike Catt, together with Leicester hooker Dorian West and Gloucester prop Phil Vickery, are all called up for the Millennium Stadium clash.

As promised by Woodward, the side will be captained by Martin Johnson, whose five-week ban will expire on Friday. He last played on St Stephen's Day.

Balshaw, preferred to club colleague Matt Perry at full-back, will make his first Six Nations start while Catt is back at the expense of another Bath player, centre Mike Tindall.

Catt missed the Springboks Test through injury and Tindall, an England ever-present last year, is relegated to replacement duty, with in-form Will Greenwood also retained.

Wrexham-born West, 33, won his first cap against France three years ago, but gains a reward for outstanding form in Leicester colours.

Woodward had to make a change, with Phil Greening still recuperating from knee surgery, and West has leapfrogged the more experienced Bath hooker Mark Regan.

Like West, Vickery has been producing outstanding displays in the Premiership and Heineken Cup and starts ahead of Julian White.

Saracens' White will be on the bench together with Gloucester loosehead Trevor Woodman, whose brilliant display against European rivals Cardiff last Saturday has put him above David Flatman in the pecking order.

Leicester's versatile Austin Healey will cover the scrum-half and wing positions, meaning no place among the 22 for Saracens star Kyran Bracken.

England, the Six Nations title holders, will travel to Cardiff on Thursday.

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