Archer steps out of red mist and into Woodward's plans

Who could this be, looming out of the mist after two years of red rose excommunication? Why it's none other than Garath Archer, long in body but short in temper, banished to the back end of beyond by the England hierarchy after the 2000 Six Nations' Championship and barely spoken of since. Of all the high-class lock forwards in England – Johnson, Kay, Grewcock, Palmer, Jones, Codling, to mention but a handful – Archer is playing better than most and as well as any. So well that Clive Woodward has been on the phone.

It would be stretching credulity to the limit to suggest that Archer will face the All Blacks on 9 November, but he is undeniably impressing the right people in the right places. His enthusiastic and (whisper it quietly) disciplined embrace of the Bristol captaincy in recent weeks has prompted Woodward, who dumped him on the grounds that he was a serial offender and a Test-match liability, to extend the hand of forgiveness. Archer, two years younger than Grewcock and almost five years Johnson's junior, has yet to break into the national manager's élite squad of 50-odd players but that situation may soon be revised.

Especially as Ben Kay, superb for England in Buenos Aires during the summer, is struggling so badly for form that Leicester are considering dropping him for this afternoon's sell-out match with Bath at Welford Road. Rather like England, the European champions have more engine-room options than they can shake a stick at: Louis Deacon is a great prospect, Martin Corry a Test-quality fill-in, Peter Short a handy bit-parter, James Hamilton an exciting up-and-comer. If Kay does lose his place, the second row strategy for the autumn internationals will be fascinating indeed.

Inspirational in Bristol's 14-man victory over Leicester last weekend, Archer will have to produce something similarly convincing at Leeds tomorrow if the West Countrymen are to ease themselves off the bottom of the Premiership pile. Julian White misses out because of a club suspension relating to his dismissal against the Midlanders (his real suspension, as decreed by the Rugby Football Union, will be decided on Tuesday night) and that puts an extra onus on the captain. The way he is performing at the moment, Archer is capable of delivering.

Another England regular struggling for a starting place at club level is Kyran Bracken, the Saracens scrum-half and, when he plays, captain. Omitted from the side that fought a successful rearguard action against Northampton last weekend, Bracken has been left on the bench again for this afternoon's meeting with Gloucester at Kingsholm. According to Wayne Shelford, his coach, Bracken was not best pleased at missing the first game. He will be incandescent at missing a second.

"Kyran has worked hard for us and he took a lot of heavy knocks during our opening games," Shelford said yesterday. "Morgan Williams had a good debut for us last week and we need to give him a chance to get used to things, as he will be starting when Kyran is off on international duty." As both Matthew Dawson and Andy Gomarsall have designs on Bracken's Test jersey, there is no guarantee he will be "off" anywhere, especially as the England selectors are in no hurry to watch Saracens play second-string European matches over the next fortnight.

Shelford has named Christian Califano, once the world's outstanding prop forward, in his 22 for the first time this season. The Frenchman has recovered from an ankle injury and will be among the replacements.