Ashton is forced to make a U-turn on Lewsey

The head coach has been using Lewsey at wing but following Mark Cueto's loss of form and the hamstring injury suffered by Jason Robinson, he has decided to make the London Wasps man his third fullback in as many World Cup games.

This is despite Lewsey being dropped from the England team back in March following a nightmare game at full-back against France which left Ashton saying: "I want to see him playing for Wasps on the wing.

"Against France I thought he was playing full-back the same way he plays on the wing. He was running the same lines, looking for the same holes and supporting in the same way. It wasn't the way I want my No15 to play."

Today, however, Ashton changed tact. He said: "Josh has been outstanding on this trip and has done the job before at full-back."

Ashton is renowned for playing people in what he considers are their best positions and, until now, has viewed Cueto as the first choice.

He favours the former footballer's all-round game ahead of Lewsey's experience in that position and a change of heart has only come about following Cueto's very public mistakes while wearing the No15 jersey.

Cueto was injured for all but the final World Cup warm-up game and then produced a performance which suggested he could be a liability at full-back rather than a major asset.

He did not impress in the win over the United States and made way for Robinson when a slight g roin injury gave the selectors an excuse to leave him out. Cueto returns to the side against Samoa but will feature in the No14 shirt.

England have tried a host of other players at full-back in the last two seasons including Tom Voyce, Mike Brown, Nick Abendanon and Olly Morgan.

Should England reach the quarterfinals they are likely to face Australia in Marseille on 6 October.

Australia fly-half Stephen Larkham has targeted that match to make his return from minor knee surgery.

The 33-year-old was ruled out of last weekend's win over Wales but following the emergence of his replacement Berrick Barnes, he could now sit out until the last eight.

"I don't need to push it now Berrick's playing so well," Larkham said. "I think we'll try and get it right for the quarter-finals. The knee is good. It's better than it's felt for two years."

Meanwhile, former England boss Andy Robinson has held talks with the Scottish Rugby Union and could be appointed Edinburgh's new head coach before the weekend.

The 43-year-old has been out of the game since he was axed by England last November but met with Scottish Rugby Union chief executive Gordon McKie in Edinburgh yesterday.

The SRU own Edinburgh and are anxious to get a coach before their Magners League opener against Leinster on Saturday.