Easter rising is hell for Dallaglio

After what forwards' coach John Wells described as 'a real b****** of a week', which ended with a much-needed victory over Samoa, England's fate rests on disarming another prospective giant-killer, Tonga, here on Friday night.

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They will probably choose to attempt it without Dallaglio, the man who proved more indispensable in Australia four years ago than Martin Johnson and Jonny Wilkinson.

The 35-year-old Wasp has not played since the first match against the United States more than a fortnight ago and has little realistic prospect of muscling his way back for the quarter-final eliminator.

England believe they are back on track because of the no-holds-barred inquiry called by head coach Brian Ashton and skipper Phil Vickery into the reasons for their catastrophic beating by South Africa.

Wells said: 'There was no doubt after the match that there were issues the players wanted to be dealt with. They were dealt with behind closed doors. A lot of good things came out of it, things which we've been working on.

'There's no doubt that winning against Samoa has helped. We got a performance of sorts and now we've got to get one to beat Tonga. This will be a ding-dong battle.'

Unless there is a sudden rethink, they will choose to face it without Dallaglio, who sat out the South Africa and Samoa matches.

Head coach Brian Ashton names his team today for a match England must win to grab a last-eight tie against Australia in Marseille on Saturday week.

He will almost certainly stick with Nick Easter of Harlequins at No 8, leaving his distinguished predecessor to hold the tackle bags.

Wells gave Easter a ringing endorsement over his contribution to the face-saving win against Samoa. He said: 'Nick has done very well. He brings good ball skills and a good ball-carrying game. It's important for the team that we have guys in the back row who we know we can rely on to make yardage and big tackles.'

That suggests the best Dallaglio can hope for is a place on the bench as back row cover, a role filled in the last two matches by Lewis Moody.

No longer a first choice on either flank of the back row, Moody did at least get on the pitch, replacing Tom Rees for half-an-hour against the Springboks and Joe Worsley for the last quarter against Samoa.

Vickery has served his two-match ban for tripping American centre Paul Emerick and is due to reclaim his place from Matt Stevens in anticipation of a severe scrummaging test posed by Tonga.

Vickery's availability averts the crisis over a shortage of props which meant two Premiership veterans, Darren Crompton of Bristol followed by Sale's Stuart Turner, flying over as emergency cover.

Both have rejoined their clubs, leaving England to consider bringing Mark Regan back at hooker for the lighter George Chuter, and Rees, fitness permitting, for Worsley in the back row.

In their bid to ensure that they continue to raise their game, England will have to make a rapid conversion of their tight-five forwards into rather more than 'set-piece monsters', a description used yesterday by Wells and scrum coach Graham Rowntree.

'Their primary role is to guarantee possession,' said Rowntree. 'It was great to see Andy Sheridan carrying the ball 20 yards with four Samoans hanging on to his back. That's a sign that he's not just a set-piece monster.'

After scaring the wits out of South Africa in Lens before eventually losing 30-25, the Tongans retreated to their base in Montpellier with their most-travelled player, former Llanelli lock Inoke Afeaki, giving England some idea of what awaits them at the Parc des Princes.

He said: 'I think they will be nervous. If not, they should be. We've got more firepower than Samoa and if England don't play to their best, they'll be on the back foot.'