Robinson returns to the wing as England ring changes

During the 2001 Lions tour of Australia – not least in the opening minutes of a stunning Test match in Brisbane, when he did the sporting world a favour by reminding a haughty and high-handed Wallaby vintage that there are two sides to every argument – Jason Robinson looked the most potent wing of his generation in either code of rugby. At which point, England decided to pick him at full-back. It did not make sense then, and has continued not to make sense ever since.

Happily, the hallelujahs and hosannas are now back on the order of service for the first time in almost two years. Robinson will return to the Red Rose wing against Scotland at Twickenham this weekend, and if he starts on the left rather than the right, poor Chris Paterson, a gifted enough footballer but no Ferrari, may start wondering what crime he committed in an earlier life. When Robinson is at his best, career wings of the unblemished pedigree scarcely know how to contain him. Part-time wings really do not deserve to be so heartlessly persecuted.

According to the latest England team-sheet, issued yesterday by Clive Woodward, the celebrated cross-coder from Sale will wear the No 14 shirt. But Robinson is far more familiar with the left-wing duties, and as Ben Cohen, also recalled to national colours after injury, is equally effective on either flank, it would be logical to play it straight. There again, it would have been logical to pick someone else at full-back over the last 17 months. Woodward is not a coach to be second-guessed.

Had Josh Lewsey not run rings round the Italians in the early stages of the Six Nations match in London a week last Sunday, there may have been no re-structuring of England's back division. But the 26-year-old Wasps full-back scored two excellent tries and was heavily implicated in every positive aspect of an English performance that was heavenly for 20 minutes and diabolical for the following 60. It would have been cruel in the extreme to have dropped him, and Woodward has wisely decided to combine his orthodox deep-running talents with Robinson's wholly unorthodox brand of side-stepping individualism.

"There has been a lot of talk about Jason and where he should play," said the coach, whose enthusiasm for the full-back option is not wholly shared by his colleagues in the back-room team. "Personally, I don't mind where he plays as long as he's on the pitch, and provided we have another full-back of real quality available to us, I'm perfectly happy to run Jason on the wing. We intend to give him a free role in a very exciting back division."

Dan Luger, the Harlequins wing, will not be excited at all, having been demoted to the bench. "He'll be hurting," Woodward acknowledged. So too will James Simpson-Daniel, the brilliant young Gloucester three-quarter, and Robbie Morris, the equally inexperienced Northampton prop, both of whom have been dropped altogether. They play for the A team against the Scottish second-string at Franklin's Gardens on Friday night, in the company of such luminaries as Kyran Bracken, Henry Paul and Phil Christophers.

Woodward has made a total of six changes, one of them positional. Jason Leonard is back in the front row, albeit as a reluctant tight-head, while Neil Back's reappearance at open-side flanker means a switch to the blind side for the eternally flexible Richard Hill and a return to replacement duty for Joe Worsley, whose sense of frustration can know no bounds. As expected, Martin Johnson replaces Danny Grewcock at lock and reclaims the captaincy from Jonny Wilkinson.

There is, of course, another unbeaten side with designs on a Grand Slam, and they too have changed a winning combination. Ireland, who take on the eminently beatable Wales in Cardiff this weekend, have dropped the Munster wing, John Kelly, in favour of Justin Bishop, of London Irish. Kelly reverts to the bench, where he is joined by two of the most gifted footballing forwards in the championship: his provincial colleague Donncha O'Callaghan, and the Leinster loose-forward, Eric Miller.

Leo Cullen, who replaced the Ulsterman Gary Longwell at lock during the win over France in Dublin 11 days ago, holds his place for the visit to the Millennium Stadium, as does Alan Quinlan, who remains on the blind-side flank in the continuing absence of Victor Costello.

Geordan Murphy, the wonderfully inventive full-back from Leicester, stays in situ because of Girvan Dempsey's fitness problems, while Ronan O'Gara must again make do with a bit-part role behind David Humphreys, whose form at outside-half has so far made him the player of the tournament.

ENGLAND AND IRELAND SIX NATIONS TEAMS

ENGLAND (v Scotland, Twickenham, Saturday): J Lewsey (Wasps); J Robinson (Sale Sharks), W Greenwood (Harlequins), M Tindall (Bath), B Cohen (Northampton); J Wilkinson (Newcastle), M Dawson (Northampton); G Rowntree (Leicester), S Thompson (Northampton), J Leonard (Harlequins), M Johnson (Leicester, capt), B Kay (Leicester), R Hill (Saracens), N Back (Leicester), L Dallaglio (Wasps). Replacements: M Regan (Leeds), T Woodman (Gloucester), D Grewcock (Bath), J Worsley (Wasps), A Gomarsall (Gloucester), P Grayson (Northampton), D Luger (Harlequins).

IRELAND (v Wales, Cardiff, Saturday): G Murphy (Leicester); J Bishop (London Irish), B O'Driscoll (Leinster, capt), K Maggs (Bath), D Hickie (Leinster); D Humphreys (Ulster), P Stringer (Munster); M Horan (Munster), S Byrne (Leinster), J Hayes (Munster), L Cullen (Leinster), M O'Kelly (Leinster), A Quinlan (Munster), K Gleeson (Leinster), A Foley (Munster). Replacements: F Sheahan (Munster), J Fitzpatrick (Ulster), D O'Callaghan (Munster), E Miller (Leinster), G Easterby (Llanelli), R O'Gara (Munster), J Kelly (Munster).