Tait ousted by big guns

Instead of lining up there at Twickenham on Saturday against Ospreylia, disguised as Wales, he will be nowhere to be seen — by some distance the most conspicuous of the 10 missing from the cast for the World Cup final.

For the second time in three years, Tait has been made to pay a high price for falling below national expectation, not that the Red Rose hierarchy would dare admit as much publicly.

The subtle difference this time is that England have taken him out of the firing line before he faces Wales in the Six Nations, rather than afterwards.

Three years ago Andy Robinson removed Tait with indecent haste despite the defeat in Cardiff on the eve of his 19th birthday hardly being his fault. Now Brian Ashton has taken similarly evasive action.

A catastrophic match for Newcastle at Leicester last weekend forced the head coach to abort the plan rather than risk exposing Tait to the bombardment which the Ospreys trio of James Hook, Gavin Henson and Lee Byrne would have unleashed into the sky above HQ.

Iain Balshaw, whose career has gone along in fits and starts since his blazing introduction seven years ago when nothing seemed impossible, is back for the ninth time.

Despite years of suffering from being both injury and accidentprone, Balshaw is considered the safer pair of hands as well as possessing the pace to make him dangerous on the counter-attack, as the Ospreys found at Kingsholm last November when he created Gloucester's winning try out of nothing.

Once the full back decision had been taken, there was nowhere else for Tait and no amount of re-runs of the electrifying 70-yard break which almost unhinged the Springboks in Paris last October was going to make a blind bit of difference.

Outside centre, his position that night, had long been earmarked for Mike Tindall ever since his recovery from the broken leg which kept him out of the World Cup.

Ashton said: 'We need someone to take on the opposition when the going gets tough and Mike Tindall is precisely that type of player. Had he been fit for the World Cup, he would have been our No 1 choice at outside centre, anyway. Mathew's had a few games at full back. He's played well in some, not so well in others.

'He's learning the position. I would suggest the Six Nations is not a tournament in which to put someone in such an exposed position when he he is not totally at ease with all the attributes required. I've a massive amount of faith in Mathew Tait's ability. He's very talented and I've no doubt that, in time, he'll have a very long international career.'

That leaves two questions uppermost in Tait's mind as well as everyone else's — where and when?

Should Balshaw do himself full justice and catch up with the lost years and Lesley Vainikolo be afforded the luxury of being eased into a winning team, Tait's rehabilitation at club level may take some time.

Frozen out by the need for 'Iron Mike' to put some power into the English midfield, his last hope of making the 22 foundered against the need for still more power.

His versatility as a full back, centre or wing made him a logical choice except that the wing position had been reserved for Vainikolo.

Tait versus 'The Volcano' was a nocontest, not with Ashton convinced that the Tongan, sporting a ponytail for his initiation, will shake up this Six Nations the way another league convert, Jason Robinson, shook up the one eight years ago when he, too, came off the bench.

None of that will be of any consolation to Tait as he picks up the pieces. It took him the best part of 18 months to do so the last time, ironically enough under Rob Andrew's management on Tyneside before he left Newcastle to supervise national affairs at Twickenham as the RFU's director of elite rugby.

Vainikolo's imminent England baptism in the colours of St. George will not worry him unduly despite inspiring comparison to Jonah Lomu and Inga Tuigamala. With his infectious laughter and constant references to the Almighty, 'Big Les' does not give the slightest impression of being a man under pressure.

'Whatever shirt you put on, you deserve and I don't feel this is strange in any way,' he said. 'England is putting food on my table and a roof over my head and this is another way for me to say thank you.

'As the first Polynesian to be picked for England, this is a big opportunity for me to show others that anything is possible. God has given me the talent to do it but I never like to talk until I have done the job.'

Apart from those who are retired or injured, only two other members of the World Cup final starting team besides Tait have lost their places.

Mark Cueto makes way for David Strettle on the left wing and Steve Borthwick, 'an angry young man' according to Ashton after failing to make much of an impact in France, has ousted Ben Kay to partner Simon Shaw in the second row.