Sparky

England winger Mark Cueto has called on coach Brian Ashton to pick his strongest team for the three warm-up matches before the World Cup.
Cueto said the time for experimentation was over, with England less than six weeks away from their World Cup opener.

"We've got to use these three games to play our best team rather than keep switching people and looking for new combinations," said the Sale star.

The team for Saturday's match against Wales is named at 1215 BST on Tuesday.

England, who also have practice games against France on 11 and 18 August, begin their World Cup defence against USA on 8 September.

"We've got to use these three games to put our best 15 players out there and give them time to play together," added Cueto.


Ashton needs to quickly decide on his first-choice XV

"I am almost certain that over the past two years, I don't think the same 15 have played in two consecutive (England) games.

"So from that point of view, if we can keep the players fit, then we definitely need to keep the best 15 or 22 on the field for as long as possible to get the combinations, systems and that bond together.

"One of our biggest problems was the lack of time we've had together over the normal season, but we've spent a lot of time together over the last four or five weeks, and that will benefit us without a doubt."

Ashton faces several selection dilemmas, with his choices at number eight and full-back likely to come in for particular attention.

Cueto lined up at full-back in England's last outing, but uncapped duo Danny Cipriani and Nick Abendanon have been kept on in the squad.

Uncapped Leicester centre Dan Hipkiss has also been tipped to feature, possibly in the same side as veteran number eight Lawrence Dallaglio, a key part of England's 2003 World Cup-winning side.

The 35-year-old faces competition for the shirt from Bristol's Dan Ward-Smith and Wasps' James Haskell.