David Beckham 'can swing England's 2018 bid in South Africa'

David Beckham's presence in South Africa this summer could prove a decisive factor in helping England win the bid to host the 2018 World Cup finals, according to the head of this year’s tournament, Danny Jordaan.

The chief executive of South Africa 2010 said he expected Beckham to accept Fabio Capello’s offer to travel with the England squad, even though he has been ruled out through injury from playing.

“I think David Beckham will still come,” Jordaan said. “There is already an indication that he will be part of the team and also England is making a bid for 2018 and I’m sure that the bid team will use him during the World Cup. He’s an important factor.

Beckham is already a bid ambassador for 2018 and Jordaan added that he felt England had a “realistic” chance of being successful.

With just 80 days to go now until this year’s tournament kicks off in Johannesburg, Jordaan conceded that there would be fewer fans around 100,000 fewer attending than as originally estimated. He said that an assessment of how many supporters would travel was currently being carried out by the organisers with a report expected to be submitted next month ahead of a final drive to push ticket sales.

However Jordaan dismissed claims that security fears and the lack of infra-structure adequate transport links and accommodation had led to fans’ considering missing the event. Instead he blamed the cost a lack of spending money brought about by the economic crisis.

“We did our calculations in 2004-05 and then in 2008-09 we had a global economic crisis which reduced the amount of spare cash people had,” he said.

“So we are now making an assessment of what the impact of that will be. The original figure was that we expected 450,000 visitors and we have asked for a new assessment. We are probably now looking at around 350,000.”

So far 65,000 tickets for matches have been sold in the United Kingdom the highest figure is the 120,000 sold in the United States although Jordaan estimates there are around 2.5 million England supporters already living in South Africa.

“The major tasks have been complete, all the stadia are complete,” Jordaan said adding that the transport plans were being “fine-tuned”. He said: “We are playing matches, all the countries have chosen their base camps and the training pitches are being put in, everything will be fine.

“We want to present it as an African World Cup. The continent of Africa has supported us and there were huge celebrations when we were awarded the event. In many of the countries they understand the importance of a successful World Cup in South Africa because the world is not only going to judge South Africa but the whole of Africa.

“It will help Africa for the world to look at Africa through different eyes not as just one big block where everyone is blamed for everything on every corner of the continent and also to show that Africa can deliver on its promises, can perform and host the biggest event on the earth. If we can do that successfully then the world will have to re-examine the way in which calculations, opinions are made.”

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England coaching team to remain unchanged for summer tour of Australia and New Zealand

England's coaching team is expected to remain intact until after the summer tour of Australia and New Zealand, despite a record of just eight wins from 19 games under Martin Johnson's tenure.

It is understood that a full review by the Rugby Football Union looking at the performance of Johnson, the England manager, and his coaching team of John Wells, Mike Ford, Brian Smith and Graham Rowntree will not take place until July, despite widespread frustration at the team's performance during the Six Nations Championship.

By that time England will have completed a five-match trip to Australia and New Zealand, their longest tour since the excursion to South Africa 10 years ago.

Johnson's position is understood to be safe, while a significant upturn in performance and results for England, who will be taking a massive squad of 44 players on tour, would also be likely to secure the positions of his coaching team until after the World Cup in 2011. If the tour was deemed a failure, however, some changes are expected.

England will play two Tests against Australia, in Perth on June 12 and Sydney on June 19, and three midweek games, two against the Australian Barbarians, on June 8 in Perth and June 15 in Gosford, and the New Zealand Maori on June 23 in Napier.

Armitage's replacement, Ben Foden, scored the only try of the night and made a widely-acclaimed first start for England.

"I was disappointed in myself," Armitage said. "I haven't been playing well. Fair play, Foden has been putting his hand up for a while and he deserved his chance and he took it.

"That is disappointing for me but I am really happy for him because I think it is about time they gave him a shot and he played really well.

"It is just going to make me a stronger player and I want to get back into that England squad. Maybe I was taking it for granted and I wasn't working as hard as I promised myself I would once I had the shirt.

"Now that I am back at London Irish, I know where I need to go to get back into the squad and work on the stuff that wasn't firing during the Six Nations."

Wasps lock Simon Shaw is expected to be out of action for three weeks after damaging his right shoulder during the first half in Paris.

Shaw has injured his A/C joint, the same injury he sustained in his left shoulder during the match against Ireland, which forced him to miss the Calcutta Cup game in Edinburgh.

Ireland full-back Geordan Murphy, 31, is likely to finish his career at Leicester after agreeing in principle to a new three-year contract.

Leinster are hopeful that their centres Brian O'Driscoll and Gordon D'Arcy, who were both injured in Ireland's 23-20 defeat by Scotland, will be available for their Heineken Cup quarter-final against Clermont Auvergne on April 9. O'Driscoll has a knee problem, while D'Arcy injured his groin.

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England on verge of something special | Autumn Internationals 2010

Scrum-half Danny Care believes England are ready to produce "something really special" in their Calcutta Cup match against Scotland on Saturday.

Martin Johnson's side have been dogged by an inability to finish try-scoring chances but will be looking to avoid a third straight defeat at Murrayfield.

"And when it does click I think it will be something really special. Hopefully we can do that this weekend."

England have failed to score a try in either of their previous two Calcutta Cup matches at Murrayfield, but the Harlequins number nine is adamant that will change on Saturday.

"We have shown glimpses of how good we can be. We have just lacked a clinical edge in finishing off the tries," he continued.

And the 23-year-old was quick to defend half-back partner Jonny Wilkinson, who has come under criticism in recent weeks.

"I think Jonny and I are improving every week. He is obviously the best 10 I have ever worked with. It is great to have him outside you," stated Care.

"Ireland were very good at getting over the ball and slowing it down. It is frustrating when you are playing against players like that because you want the ball on a plate and you have to dig for it a bit.

The RFU has not moved from the line that Haskell, an England regular during the RBS Six Nations Championship, must remain with them during the second break in Six Nations action. It insists that his club contract allows the union his services in an England squad period, but Max Guazzini, the Stade president, said he could be in breach of contract if he does not return.

Guazzini is in no mood to back down. This week he has brought in a legal officer to witness Haskell’s absence from two training sessions in the run-up to Saturday’s game with Toulouse at the Stade de France. The player’s image has been widely used in pre-match publicity and Guazzini is by no means alone in believing the RFU’s attitude to be inflexible, although attempts could resume today to find a compromise.

But Stade receive no compensation when he is away, unlike English clubs, whose umbrella body, Premier Rugby, struck an eight-year deal with the RFU in 2008 over player release. French clubs were asked by the RFU to sign a letter of intent that covered, broadly, release periods but which they do not believe would stand up in court. Guazzini, in any case, did not sign it.

"This week we have worked a lot on our contact skills and our ruck drills and hopefully we can take that into the game and get some quick ball."

England full-back Delon Armitage was more succinct.

"We've got players whose strength is coming from deep and beating players and we haven't used them. We've talked about it but we haven't done it," said Armitage.

"We can't keep saying we're going to use it. There's no better time than right now to do it."

England V South Africa Hospitality

Autumn Internationals Hospitality

Martin Johnson resists England coaching changes in Autumn Internationals

The England manager, Martin Johnson, will resist any attempt to get him to change his coaching staff as part of a Rugby Football Union review of the international season. England won three of their eight Tests and finished third in the Autumn Internationals, which they have not won since 2003.

Johnson will this morning meet the RFU's elite rugby director, Rob Andrew, to discuss the season and plot a way forward, with the 2011 World Cup 17 months away. The manager's position is not under threat but he will come under pressure from some at the RFU to review the structure and make-up of his coaching team.

Since 2004 England have won four of 24 matches against the three major southern hemisphere nations, have beaten Ireland once, and have lost more matches than they have won against France and Wales in the Six Nations.

Since 2003, in 26 away Tests against New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Ireland, Wales, France, Scotland and Argentina, they have won three times twice in Paris and once at Murrayfield.

The former England prop Jeff Probyn has led calls for a coaching shake-up, arguing that Johnson has decisions to make because of a poor Six Nations campaign. If that meant Johnson letting go some of his friends, Probyn said, he should do so.

But because Johnson is in such a strong position, he will have the coaching team he wants and he will not be browbeaten into making changes he does not want. Andrew, who recommended two years ago that Johnson be appointed team manager, despite his lack of experience in coaching, will in the coming weeks have to justify his own department's performance. England lost out to Ireland in the Under-20 Six Nations and only one Premiership side has made the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup.

England's away record in the last six years may be poor but they did not concede a try away from Twickenham in this Six Nations and they have conceded only two in five championship matches on the road under Johnson, a record no other side can match. However, after being the top try-scorers in last season's tournament, with 16, they managed to score only six in this year's tournament.

When the RFU signed an agreement regarding the management of elite players with Premier Rugby two years ago, it said the time for excuses was over. The clubs have since delivered everything that was asked of them but the national side has yet to show the benefit in terms of results, something Andrew will be asked by his employers to explain.

The England second-row forward Simon Shaw, who left the field against France after 15 minutes with an injury to his right shoulder, will be out of action for three weeks. That will almost certainly rule him out of Wasps' Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-final against Gloucester next month.

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Jeff Probyn calls for overhaul of England rugby team

England prop Jeff Probyn has called for an overhaul of Martin Johnson's coaching set-up and for Steve Borthwick to be stripped of the captaincy.

"I don't think it's time for Johnson to go - I think it's time for his coaches to go," Probyn told BBC Sport.

Probyn, who won 37 England caps between 1988 and 1993, wants sweeping changes after a campaign in which Johnson's side won only two of five games and were widely derided for playing unimaginative rugby, before improving in the 12-10 defeat by France on Saturday.

Johnson now has 18 months to get things right before the World Cup in New Zealand.

Despite Johnson's consistent efforts to defend them, Probyn lays the blame for England's lacklustre displays firmly at the door of back-up coaches John Wells, Brian Smith, Mike Ford and Graham Rowntree.

"There's nothing wrong with the players," he said. "They are playing week in week out with their clubs, playing a different style of rugby and an exciting style of rugby.

"Johnson has got to start making the decisions a manager has to make and if that means some of your friends have got to go, they've got to go."

Probyn said he would like to see Northampton coaches Jim Mallinder and Dorian West brought in to work alongside Johnson.

Former England coach Dick Best does not think the Rugby Football Union will make any changes to the coaching set-up so close to a World Cup, but wants Johnson's long-term successor to be identified and brought up through the ranks.

That will be followed by a tricky autumn series against Australia, Samoa, world champions South Africa and New Zealand.

As well as the coaching shake up, Probyn is calling for a change of captain, with flanker Lewis Moody having pointed the way forward to a more dynamic style of leadership against the French after taking the armband from the injured Borthwick.

"The unfortunate thing for Borthwick is that he's never played well as a captain.

"The tempo was better under Moody, there was none of this finger-wagging at referees and calling for yellow and red cards. That was a feature of Borthwick's captaincy, which is not the sort of thing you expect an England captain to do.

"I'd probably go for Moody in the short term until one of the other players holds up their hands."

The RFU will hold a review of the national team set-up in July, after Francis Baron steps down as chief executive.

Best, who was a coach on the 1993 British and Irish Lions tour of New Zealand, says Baron's departure could open the door for the return of Sir Clive Woodward, England's 2003 World Cup-winning coach.

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Gareth Charles' predictions for Ireland V Scotland

A fortnight ago before the Wales V France game I said a familiar pattern was emerging to Wales' RBS Six Nations games in 2010. Well nothing much has changed has it?

So what can we expect this time round? Well, to celebrate Brian O'Driscoll's 100th cap for Ireland, the penultimate game in Croke Park before returning to a renovated Lansdowne Road, and with Ireland still in the hunt for a Triple Crown, what about...?

Wales give a parting gift of a 20-point start. Then Shane Williams will begin to shine in the second half and Wales will run in four unanswered tries to end real party-poopers! Wales have become almost predictable in their unpredictability.

Certainly, when the game breaks up late on and Wales' superior fitness levels come through, they are an extremely difficult team to defend against.

But what of the opening hour? Once again France were more than happy to stay out of rucks and mauls, stay off tackles, fan wide and pick off interceptions, leaving Wales too great a mountain to climb as happened in Twickenham and as almost happened against Scotland.

And if France were happy to sit back and let Wales force the pace, what price Ireland? It'll be a case of: "come on, show us what you've got".

Ireland were happy enough to let England have as much possession as they liked, especially with England's recycling seemingly organized by a sloth on tranquilisers!

There were 99 tackles made by Ireland, just one missed, but crucially three clear-cut chances created three tries scored - the kind of clinical finishing Wales would currently die for.

At Croke Park on Saturday there will be two extremely talented back lines but the confidence that comes from finishing and winning could be a telling factor.

Up front Wales are hoping the return of hooker Matthew Rees will stabilise the set piece, which unexpectedly creaked a little against France, and provide a launch-pad for another returnee, number eight Gareth Delve, to show the dynamism that has typified his performances for Gloucester this season.

Delve needs to be prominent to keep quiet possibly Ireland's most potent force - an outstanding back-row trio of Stephen Ferris, Jamie Heaslip and David Wallace who dovetail together so superbly.

Unfortunately statistics show that if Scotland beat England at Murrayfield (unlikely but not impossible) Wales, who went into the first Saturday of the Six Nations hoping for a Grand Slam, could be going into the last Saturday fighting to avoid a Wooden Spoon.

When you're inches away from greatness but inches away from gloom, Croke Park is not exactly the ideal place to be going.

Ireland V Scotland Hospitality

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Stuart Barnes's Big Game:France V England

Robinson, the former England head coach, has yet to secure a victory in this year’s competition while England under Johnson are yet to come anywhere near answering the critics with a performance of any imagination or intelligence. So, yes, Ireland and Wales could be the best game of rugby this weekend but this one should have the drama.

Telfer made his assertion based on the opinion that England is no longer much of a team. Johnson can dismiss former players and journalists as having "an agenda" but it is more telling coming from the man who coached him on the successful 1997 Lions tour of South Africa. He cannot snarl and say "what do you know?" because Telfer knows an awful lot and is surely one of the more respected rugby thinkers in Johnson’s eyes.

They were not bad at home to France but were easily beaten and, true, they played close to their limit against Wales and but for injuries would have surely won in Cardiff. Then they went further than even an inept England and lost in Rome with the Scottish forwards banging around one-dimensionally on the Italian line, giving a passable imitation of all the failings Robinson displayed as England’s head man.

They beat Australia, but Australia did everything in their powers to inflict defeat upon themselves. Australia beat themselves before Argentina, who England beat in a desperately dull game that autumn, won in Edinburgh. The theory that Scotland should beat England is difficult to justify.

What is tantalising, however, is the other side of the coin. The argument that England should beat Scotland is an equally unjustifiable assertion because away from home Johnson’s team cannot be banked to win anywhere but in Rome.

The old vices are back with a vengeance. Possession is not a problem but, as in the bad old day’s pre-Clive Woodward, the lions’ share of it was insufficient at home to Ireland. England win ball but it is so slow and static that the backs do not know how to use it. When they do produce quicker service, the back line is far too deep, far too regimented and far too unimaginative.

The quest for a team shape has left them forgetting the importance of having an individual with the ability to break a defensive pattern. England have a great deal to prove but the management, even more than the players, are in the firing line. If the players lack belief or the players are simply the wrong ones, the problem begins and will not be solved until the management is fixed. England’s management will not be changed but they may still be running out of time with the fans.

Defeat in Rome was a desperate disappointment for England but it probably makes life tougher for them. Scotland are not that good a team but they have enough about them to respond to the panic induced by that awful loss to Italy.

Robinson’s role is to channel that desperation. If he achieves that, England are in for a fight. The Scottish scrum is improved and the back row is a proper unit. The Scotland coach will fancy taking advantage of Johnson’s decision to select the hard-tackling Joe Worsley and omit a genuine openside flanker in Lewis Moody to compete with the burgeoning John Barclay. Scotland will not wilt in the set-piece and could outflank England at the breakdown. If they do, the Scottish half backs know what to do.

Chris Cusiter has the defensive capacity to rattle Danny Care, while Dan Parks has the advantage over Wilkinson in the distance and accuracy of his tactical kicking. Should Scotland establish a platform and maintain position it is hard to see where England’s tries will come from.

Whatever the quality of the individuals involved the conservatism that has emanated from the management will not make it easy for England to cast off their shackles and play, like high-class professionals, what is in front of them.

France V England Hospitality

Six Nations Hospitality