Andrew defends Easter risk

Nick Easter's brief stay in New Zealand may have done little for the Rugby Football Union's carbon footprint, but in rugby terms Rob Andrew is comfortable it was a risk worth taking.

Nick Easter's brief stay in New Zealand may have done little for the Rugby Football Union's carbon footprint, but in rugby terms Rob Andrew is comfortable it was a risk worth taking.

Easter, 29, was in Auckland for just four days before packing his bags for home after being ruled out of the tour with a fracture to his right hand.

It has emerged the Harlequins number eight first suffered the injury over a month ago but he played on and even captained an England XV to victory over the Barbarians at Twickenham on June 1.

It was not until he underwent a CT scan in Auckland at the weekend that it became apparent how bad the injury was. Easter is set to arrive back in London on Monday, one week and 24,000-miles after he first departed with the squad from Heathrow.

“There was some concern. We had a long discussion last Monday about whether Nick should fly out with us because we had an X-ray but we didn't have a CT scan,” Andrew explained.

“He did the original injury playing four weeks before the Barbarians game – but he played the week after doing it and he felt comfortable it was a risk worth taking. He wanted to come.

“It was only when we got here that it was clear to him it didn't feel quite the same as when he first did the injury.

“We had the CT scan on Saturday and discovered it was slightly more complicated than we had originally thought.”

Easter's departure will have forced Andrew into a back-row reshuffle for the first Test against New Zealand at Eden Park on Saturday.

But there are no plans to call up a replacement, with James Haskell and Luke Narraway competing with Tom Croft and Joe Worsley for two back row places.

Andrew will put the finishing touches to a new-look team over the next 24 hours before announcing it after training on Tuesday.

There could be as few as three survivors from the World Cup final and only a handful of names that started England's last international, the 33-10 win over Ireland just three months ago.

Injuries have kept the likes of Easter, Phil Vickery, Danny Cipriani, Paul Sackey, Simon Shaw and Jonny Wilkinson on the sidelines.

But the selection will still highlight a significant sea-change from the last team named by Brian Ashton before his departure as Head Coach.

London Irish winger Topsy Ojo could win his first Test cap, while Olly Barkley, Mike Brown and Charlie Hodgson are all likely to return to the Test arena.

But Andrew was keeping his cards close to his chest.

“The majority of our group of players will be around in 2011 and this is the only time they will come to New Zealand before the World Cup,” he said.

“Take the injuries out, and therefore the players who can't be here, a lot of the selections have been made on that basis. We expect a lot of guys to get some Test match experience of New Zealand.

“But we still have a good group of players here that I believe are capable of having a real go at New Zealand on Saturday.”