After an injury-plagued year Charlie Hodgson will travel as first-choice fly-half in a new-look England squad announced yesterday by England coach Sir Clive Woodward.

“We are seeing some generational change here, but aside from the four new caps, we are pretty familiar with the calibre of the players chosen,” said Australia coach Eddie Jones.

“There may be some opportunities for us with someone new at fly-half, but even then Charlie Hodgson already has eight caps to his name ”

Jones admitted England would be hurt by the absences of Wilkinson and full-back Jason Robinson but he is acutely aware of England’s strength in depth.

The 30-man England party contains 17 members of the World Cup-winning squad and eight who started in the final last November.

Martin Johnson, Neil Back, Kyran Bracken, Dorian West, Paul Grayson and Jason Leonard have all retired from international rugby while Woodward opted to rest Robinson, Ben Kay and Will Greenwood.

But Jones does not expect a repeat of the 76-0 whitewash Australia enjoyed the last time England took a weakened side to Brisbane – on the infamous ’Tour of Hell’ in 1998.

“There is a strong core of experience still there, despite losing a number of experienced players,” said Jones.

“Sir Clive looks to have rested a couple of blokes who are out of form but this appears to be business as usual. The side is going to present some emerging players with an opportunity.

“We will have to be able to adjust to that, but you would expect England to shore up their retirements with experienced people like Danny Grewcock, Martin Corry, Julian White and maybe some of the guys coming through, like Stuart Abbott who looked dangerous during the Rugby World Cup.

“England’s situation is identical to the changes Australia had to make post World Cup ’99 which allowed us to bring on new players like George Smith, Phil Waugh and Bill Young in 2000, while farewelling the like of Tim Horan, Andrew Blades, David Wilson, Dan Crowley and Richard Harry.”

In four meetings, Jones has never managed to get the better of Woodward and he will be watching closely as England take on New Zealand in two Tests before flying into Brisbane on June 20.

One of England’s new caps, open-side Michael Lipman, will be well known in the Australian ranks after being raised Down Under.

Born in England, he played for the Australian Under-19 side in 1999 with current Wallabies George Smith, David Lyons and Adam Freier.

Lipman failed to break into the NSW Waratahs side and, like Ireland’s Keith Gleeson, decided his future lay in Europe. He moved back home to England and Bristol before linking up with Zurich grand finalists Bath.