Lewsey ready for active service

England star lines up the Welsh

What's all this talk of England's soft centre? Andy Robinson may have opted to field the unheralded pairing of Jamie Noon and Mathew Tait for Saturday's Six Nations clash with Wales in Cardiff, but the wily coach has the satisfaction of knowing he has one of the world's most experienced campaigners ready to step into the midfield breach should his country request it. That man? Wasps star Josh Lewsey.

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The 28-year-old flyer has managed to sidestep the injury jinx that has picked off the cream of England's backline, and will win his 30th Test cap at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday when he pulls on the lillywhite No.11 jersey.

Although Lewsey has picked up all his representative honours in the back three positions, Wasps gave him a run at outside-centre in their recent Heineken Cup encounter with Calvisano and he duly responded with an accomplished performance that yielded a try.

Indeed, Lewsey at England centre is well within the bounds of probability.

Not only is he vastly experienced, he is an astute reader of the game, and has forged a reputation as one of the hardest tacklers in world rugby. Lest we forget, he is the man who famously wrote off Mat Rogers' surfing career with a rib-splintering hit in 2003.

True, the caldron of the Six Nations is a slightly different proposition to a joust with a modest Italian club side - so would Lewsey welcome a shunt up the England order?

"I'd like to think so," Lewsey told Planet Rugby.

"I played most of my youth rugby at No.10, and my senior rugby in the back three, but I've always really enjoyed my odd run at centre.

"Wings and fullbacks normally finish off moves, but the midfield is an area where you get the opportunity to create tries.

"At centre you are the link man, and the responsibility of conducting operations would excite any player.

"If the offer to play at centre for England ever came my way than I'd be happy to accept.

"But to be honest, I don't really care where I play in the England team, as long as I do actually play - although I'd probably draw the line at tighthead prop!"

Given England's current injury list, the former army officer's hunger for active service will buoy England fans ardent for glory.

The world champs have had a miserable time since that now-distant November day in Sydney, and the 2005 edition of Six Nations offers Lewsey and pals the chance to put England back at the top of the European tree.

England finished third in the 2004 Six Nations table after losses to France and Ireland, but Lewsey is adamant that the memories of Fortress Twickenham's demolition and that late-night Parisian mugging have been banished from the team's collective mindset.

Lewsey, ever the level-headed old pro, is evidently not a man to be consumed with regrets or propelled by revenge. His musings on the campaign ahead are infused solely with that well-worn sporting mantra - 'one game at a time'.

"In sport, it's useless to worry about how you performed last year or how things will look two months down the track," he said.

"If you start setting targets like 'five wins from five', 'four wins from five' or even 'three wins from five' you are setting yourself up for a fall.

"You can't go into a tournament as tough as the Six Nations with one eye fixed on the final standings. If you think like that you've lost all five games already."

Anchored shortly before the highly anticipated Lions tour to New Zealand, this year's Six Nations campaign will serve as a vast and bloody application process - but, again, Lewsey is cool on the relationship between the two events.

"I can speak only for myself, but I haven't noticed any heightened tour-related desire during training this year," he said.

"In real terms, the Lions is an extremely distance prospect. We are only half-way though the season.

"England training is always intense and always 100 percent committed, and it has been exactly the same this season.

"Anyone with their eyes fixed beyond Cardiff would surely be found out.

"There's excitement enough in the England camp as it is - we can do without the Lions for the moment.

"Robbo has introduced some new ideas, and there are plenty of hugely talented new faces pressing for places.

"Add a trip to Cardiff into the mix, and you'd be hard pressed to have time to think about anything else but Saturday."

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