Greenwood return vital to England's prospects

Will Greenwood, the one truly creative spirit in the England Test team, was back on duty yesterday after spending a week in London on compassionate leave. Someone should be hanging the bunting from the nearest eucalyptus tree. It is now patently obvious that the red rose army cannot hope to win this tournament without Greenwood at inside-centre and Richard Hill on the blindside flank. Hill's condition remains a mystery - all injuries in the England camp are subject to the Official Secrets Act - but his colleague is very definitely fit and up for the challenges ahead.

Heaven knows, the Harlequins midfielder has things on his mind. His wife, Caro, has been experiencing a difficult second pregnancy - the couple lost their infant son, Freddie, 13 months ago - and is now recovering from surgery in the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. She will be there for the forseeable future, despite her condition having stabilised.

"She's a tough cookie and she's hanging in there," Greenwood said after rejoining the squad in Queensland. But he is delighted to be on professional duty once more. "I had no idea what I might be faced with when I returned to England, but under the improved circumstances, it was not a difficult call to come back here."

If Greenwood was pleased to see his muckers - "I see rugby as an escape and a comfort. The England environment is a fantastic place to be," he explained - those colleagues were even happier to see Greenwood. They missed every hair on his head on Sunday, when the Samoans gave the Six Nations' champions a free hour's lesson in the art of running rugby, and while he is hardly needed for this weekend's mismatch with Uruguay in Brisbane, his presence is central to prospects in the knock-out phase, which begins in less than a fortnight.

Greenwood does not yet know whether Clive Woodward, the head coach, will give him a run against the South Americans. "I'm always available for selection," he said. "Clive has stuck by me ever since giving me my first cap in 1997, so if he decides this is not the game for me, I'll go with it. The most important thing is that I'm here, involved in this campaign. I wouldn't have returned if I hadn't felt it was a place where I could get a smile out of people, but I have some very good friends in this squad. Some of us go back a decade, we've been through good times and bad times together and we're all comfortable with each other. If I want to talk about things, I'll talk. If not, they'll let me get on with life in my own way."

Woodward has some awkward calls to make in the light of the Samoan experience, an unexpectedly close contest in which the islanders were not subdued until the last couple of minutes of normal time. Ideally, Martin Johnson and Ben Kay would be spared a fourth consecutive outing, but Martin Corry's temporary absence - the Leicester utility forward has returned to England for the birth of his first child - and Danny Grewcock's busted toe have clouded the issue.

England have problems at scrum-half, where neither Kyran Bracken nor Matt Dawson have been convincing, and at stand-off, where Jonny Wilkinson's form has been scratchy at best. Then there is the question of Hill's hamstring. If the world's most accomplished blindside flanker is to wield any influence at the business end of the competition, he will have to start fronting up soon.

* The appeal to overturn the Scotland flanker Martin Leslie's 12-week suspension will be heard tomorrow. The Canadian Graeme Mew will act as the chairman for a three-man appeals committee including Guillermo Tragant of Argentina and Australia's John Freedman. Leslie was banned for 12 weeks for kneeing the United States back Jason Keyter in the head during a Pool B match last week.

* The outside-centre Tana Umaga trained with the All Blacks on Monday as he stepped up his bid to prove his fitness for next week's quarter-final. The vice-captain ruptured the posterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in the first match, against Italy on 11 October. "I ran for about 45 minutes. I started doing some more intense running today and agility work," Umaga said.

* The Argentina props Mauricio Reggiardo and Roberto Grau have been cited for dangerous play during their match against Ireland in Adelaide on Sunday.