Preview - England v Barbarians

Tradition dictates that it's the Barbarians who work out their moves in a smoky pub on the eve of a game using beer-soaked peanuts as pawns. But what's 'tradition' to modern rugby? On Sunday it will be England who play the part of the scratch side.

Comeback Kid: Tait gets a few pointers from Robinson

Whilst the Baa-baas dissect the video of their - or rather the World XV's - recent 64-14 win over Saracens, England's troops will be busy making the acquaintance of their newly assigned commanders.

John Wells, England's new forwards guru, and Mike Ford, Mr Defence, joined the party on Wednesday; Brian Ashton, the man charged with shaping the side's attack, hooked up with his new charges on Friday. Let's hope he brought his own peanuts.

This is all a far cry from the heady days of the early Noughties when England players arrived at games armed with a concise visual image of how the fifth scrum of the second half would unfold.

The members of the England XV that will take to the hallowed turf on Sunday will scarcely know where to change into their kit let alone were to stand at a re-start.

Andy Robinson's hotchpotch squad of 22 contains 15 of the squad to tour Australia, six from the England 'A' (Saxons) party that will contest the Churchill Cup, and England Under-21 loose forward James Haskell.

The likes of captain Martin Corry and Lawrence Dallaglio have been granted a summer off and Sunday's side is also without the Leicester and Sale contingent as they prepare for Saturday's Premiership Final.

Robinson has got his critics, of that there is no question, but he deserves respect for soldiering on despite the various distractions - and by 'distractions' we mean things like the mass culling of his erstwhile deputies, bloody skirmishes with the clubs over access to his players and public inquests into his record as national coach.

Lesser men would have thrown their hands up, but not Robinson; he has translated his qualities as a player to the realms of coaching, namely keeping his piehole shut and getting on with the nitty-gritty on the field.

The former Bath flank never got the rewards he deserved as a player, and it looks unlikely he will do so as a coach. But the wind of change blowing through the England camp might just herald an upturn in lillywhite fortunes.

England's problem since their annus mirabilis of 2003 has been their lack of creativity - the propensity of the players to hark back to the diagrams on the chalkboard when the actual field of play breaks up before their eyes.

England's finest need a good session of ad-libbing to get their creative juices flowing, and it seems that the haphazard set-up and the wonky end-of-season schedule could be just what the doctor ordered.

Nowhere is this outbreak of textbook burning more obvious than in England's midfield selection for Sunday. The re-introduction of Mike Catt and Mathew Tait promises to bring a little jazz styling to an area that has grown bored of the sheet music preferred by the likes of Mike Tindall and Jamie Noon.

Catt's reappearance is won on merit - he's not filling in for any of the various absentees. Robinson recalled the London Irish star after two years in the international wilderness because he believes the 34-year-old can play a mentoring role to the youngsters in England's touring squad.

"By bringing the new players in we have, it was important to have a player in that could work with them," said the coach.

"The key for me is that Mike Catt can translate to the younger players the type of game we are looking to play over there.

"The players can bounce ideas off him and chat to him. As he has shown with London Irish this year. The players can play around him and have that confidence to play with him."

Catt welcomed his new role and hinted that circumstance has little to do with the England's off-the-cuff approach to Sunday - the masterplan appears to contain a certain amount of laissez-faire.

"It was a little stale two years ago, the same coaches doing the same things all the time," said Catt.

"There probably was a bit of boredom there. Now you have John Wells teaching you different things, Mike Ford doing the same.

"These are very exciting times, Brian is coming in and there is a real freshness."

England's youngsters could do worse than learn from Catt - or the likes of Iain Balshaw, James Simpson-Daniel, Olly Barkley, Peter Richards and James Forrester who all win starts on Sunday.

It seems that the penny has finally dropped in the England camp - muscles don't break down modern defensive patterns, you need brains and the ability to improvise.

England could actually out-baa the Barbarians on Saturday - if they win, or come a close second, expect this new English dawn to blossom into a bright day.

Ones to watch:

For England: England veteran Mike Catt is enjoying his ninth life at the highest level, and many believe if he playing the best rugby of his life. If he can coax his team-mates out of their shells, England could surprise even their harshest critics.

For the Barbarians: Former Australia wing Joe Roff will go down in history as one of the game's finest finishers. His protracted legal battle with Biarritz, whose coach accused him of treating his time in France "as one long holiday", is not a fitting epilogue to such a fine career. Expect at least one last world-class performance from the big man.

Head-to-head: Olly Barkey (England) v Carlos Spencer (Barbarians): One is a conflagration of muscles, tattoos and pouts - the other looks like he has just scuttled out from behind his mother's apron. But both fly-halves learned their rugby at Hogwarts School - it's all pure wizardry. The question is, who has the bigger wand?

Predication: The Barbarians have far too much experience to fail - but England will run them close in a high-scoring affair. The visitors by seven points.

The teams:

England: 15 Mark Van Gisbergen (London Wasps), 14 James Simpson-Daniel (Gloucester), 13 Mathew Tait (Newcastle Falcons), 12 Mike Catt (London Irish), 11 Iain Balshaw (Leeds Tykes), 10 Olly Barkley (Bath), 9 Peter Richards (Gloucester), 8 Pat Sanderson (Worcester Warriors, captain), 7 Michael Lipman (Bath), 6 James Forrester (Gloucester), 5 Alex Brown (Gloucester), 4 James Hudson (Bath), 3 Duncan Bell (Bath), 2 Lee Mears (Bath), 1 Tim Payne (London Wasps).
Replacements: 16 David Paice (London Irish), 17 David Barnes (Bath), 18 Kieran Roche (London Irish), 19 James Haskell (London Wasps), 20 Scott Bemand (Leicester Tigers), 21 Stuart Abbott (London Wasps), 22 Delon Armitage (London Irish).

Barbarians: 15 Matt Burke (Newcastle Falcons & Australia), 14 Bruce Reihana (Northampton Saints & New Zealand), 13 Thomas Castaignède (Saracens & France, vice-captain), 12 Dominic Feau'nati (London Irish & Samoa), 11 Joe Roff (Kubota & Australia), 10 Carlos Spencer (Northampton Saints & New Zealand), 9 Mark Robinson (Northampton Saints & New Zealand), 8 Toutai Kefu (Kubota & Australia), 7 Olivier Magne (London Irish & France), 6 Xavier Rush (Cardiff Blues & New Zealand), 5 Tom Palmer (London Wasps & England), 4 Bob Casey (London Irish & Ireland), 3 Christian Califano (Gloucester & France), 2 Raphaël Ibañez (London Wasps & France, captain), 1 Andrea Lo Cicero (L'Aquila & Italy).
Replacements (from): Mark Regan (Bristol Rugby & England), Peter Bracken (London Wasps), Daniel Leo (London Wasps & Samoa), Sam Harding (Northampton Saints & New Zealand), Justin Marshall (Ospreys & New Zealand), David Humphreys (Ulster & Ireland), Isa Nacewa (Auckland & Fiji), Fraser Waters (London Wasps & England), Dave Hewett (Edinburgh Gunners & New Zealand), Owen Finegan (Newcastle Falcons & Australia).

Date: Sunday, May 28
Kick-off: 15:00 (14:00 GMT)
Venue: Twickenham
Referee: Donal Courtney (Ireland)
Touch judges: Alain Rolland, George Clancy (both Ireland)
Assessor: Dougie Kerr (Scotland)

By Andy Jackson