Woodward calls up Payne and Catt

1.00pm - By CHRIS HEWETT

BRISBANE - Clive Woodward learned over breakfast that he might find himself on a disrepute charge following his sharp criticism of the officials involved in the sending-off of Simon Shaw during last weekend's defeat by the All Blacks in Auckland.

"Ridiculous" and "bullshit" were two of the England coach's more colourful descriptions, but after hasty discussions with his travelling QC, Richard Smith, he decided against issuing a public response to the threat, presumably on the basis that he had said quite enough already.

Instead, Woodward allowed his team selection for tomorrow's Test with Australia to do the talking for him.

It spoke at considerable volume.

Woodward chose Tim Payne, an uncapped loose-head prop from Wasps on his first international trip, to replace the injured Trevor Woodman, who failed to recover from the shoulder injury he suffered at Eden Park six days ago.

And in a wholly unforeseen development, the coach restored Mike Catt to the starting line-up at inside-centre at the expense of Olly Barkley, who played one of the games of his life in Auckland after replacing the incapacitated Stuart Abbott for the last two-thirds of the contest.

The coach might easily have preferred the more experienced Michael Worsley to Payne, having summoned the Harlequin from the Churchill Cup squad in Canada once Woodman joined the other specialist loose-head, David Flatman, and the versatile youngster Matt Stevens on the casualty list.

He might even have asked Julian White, the most powerful scrummager available to England, to shift across from the tight-head position and award a fourth cap to the crafty old stager Will Green, another prop called in from North America.

Instead, he backed the new man - a player who has risen through the ranks almost without trace.

As for the midfield selection, Woodward's pick was straight out of left field.

Catt was an influential figure when the red rose army last played at the Suncorp Stadium seven months ago, masterminding victory over Wales in a World Cup quarter-final England might easily have lost.

But the 32-year-old centre did not rip up too many trees against a rampant New Zealand back division in Dunedin in the opening match of this tour, and was promptly dropped for the Auckland Test.

His return at this stage does not quite beggar belief, but it is certainly surprising.

Happily for Woodward, his other walking wounded - the outside-centre Mike Tindall, the flanker Richard Hill, the captain, Lawrence Dallaglio - were passed fit for selection.

This was a relief of serious proportions, for the coach needed all the good news he could get yesterday.

Within hours of the New Zealand Rugby Football Union taking it upon themselves to alert the International Rugby Board to the apparent excesses of Woodward's public address last weekend, the Wallaby coach, Eddie Jones, had some fun at his rival's expense by throwing a few well-aimed verbal darts in his direction.

Jones effectively accused the tourists of getting their excuses in first by crying "fatigue" ahead of this final game of England's campaign, even though Woodward has spent the last three weeks avoiding all talk of tiredness.

"We all know cross-hemisphere internationals are played in either June or November, and that one of the sides will be at the end of their season," Jones said.

"When we go to Europe in November, we don't say we're tired.

We front up."He then extracted a full pound of flesh from the Woodward-Shaw affair.

"I can't offer an opinion on Clive's after-match comments because I haven't seen a tape or a transcript," he said with a glint in his eye, "but we take the view that we accept the refereeing as it is.

"Rugby is one of the few field sports with a genuine contest for possession, and officials get things wrong because of it.

"But it's down to coaches and players to support them, to uphold the best traditions of the game.

"Shaw is a lucky boy to be playing this weekend. I hope he enjoys his 80 minutes here."

Shaw, acquitted on a technicality after being dismissed for illegal use of the knee, will win his 28th cap tomorrow.

Quite what Woodward ends up with as a result of this furore - a reprimand, a warning as to future conduct, or a fine - remains to be seen.

- INDEPENDENT