Vickery on bench

The Wasps prop (pictured) missed the Pool A appointments with South Africa and Samoa after collecting a two-match ban for tripping USA centre Paul Emerick in England's opening game of the tournament.

Vickery's replacement, Bath's Matt Stevens, produced an impressive display when England kept their quarter-final hopes alive by seeing off Samoa 44-22 last weekend.

And with stand-in skipper Martin Corry leading from the front in two-try fashion, Vickery finds himself confined to a role among the substitutes for England's most important Test match since the 2003 World Cup final.

"Phil hasn't played for three weeks and we felt the easiest was to ease him back in was on the bench," said England coach Brian Ashton.

"The main thrust of selection is that Matt has done pretty well at tighthead prop and the captaincy was a secondary issue."

Ashton makes two changes to the starting XV with Steve Borthwick replacing Simon Shaw in the second row and Lewis Moody back at flanker in preference to Joe Worsley.

Jason Robinson again misses out as he continues to undergo rehabilitation on the hamstring he injured during England's record 36-0 World Cup defeat against South Africa 11 days ago.

"Shaw has started every game for us and been on the field the majority of that time and we've got another second row forward who hasn't played a lot of rugby who is desperate to get on the field," the coach said of Borthwick's inclusion.

"It's similar with Joe Worsley, we're trying to look after him and keep him out the firing line. Lewis has not played any starting XV rugby in the warm-ups or in the tournament and is very fresh and desperate to make a big impact."

Ashton has resisted making any changes in the backs, despite another stuttering display against Samoa.

Jonny Wilkinson and Andy Gomarsall are given another chance to develop a half-back partnership that had some good moments against Samoa, and Olly Barkley is retained at inside centre.

But question marks still persist over outside centre Matthew Tait, who has yet to reproduce his club form for England in 14 Tests.

Tait certainly has the speed to worry defences but Dan Hipkiss, who is again on the bench, has a more direct attacking game. Hipkiss' ability to stay on his feet in the tackle may also have served England better against the Tongans.

Joining Vickery and Worsley on the bench is their Wasps team-mate Lawrence Dallaglio, who was dropped from the team after their heavy defeat to South Africa.

There is no second row cover amongst the replacements, so if either Ben Kay or Borthwick have to come off then Corry will switch to lock with either Worsley or Dallaglio joining the back row.

Team: 15-Josh Lewsey, 14-Paul Sackey, 13-Mathew Tait, 12-Olly Barkley, 11-Mark Cueto, 10-Jonny Wilkinson, 9-Andy Gomarsall, 8-Nick Easter, 7-Lewis Moody, 6-Martin Corry (capt), 5-Ben Kay, 4-Steve Borthwick, 3-Matt Stevens, 2-George Chuter, 1-Andrew Sheridan.

Replacements: 16-Lee Mears, 17-Phil Vickery, 18-Lawrence Dallaglio, 19-Joe Worsley, 20-Peter Richards, 21-Andy Farrell, 22-Dan Hipkiss.