Danny Cipriani agreed to be dropped to the England Saxons after holding talks with Martin Johnson over his crisis of confidence.

Cipriani must try and restart his Test career against Ireland A in Dublin on Friday night following a face-to-face meeting between the player, England team manager Johnson and backs coach Brian Smith at the training camp in Portugal last week.

At the summit, Johnson believes Cipriani opened up more than at any time in his career with England and revealed he was deeply unhappy with his rugby at the moment and both sides thrashed out a way forward - starting with the Ireland A game.

Andy Goode will today be given a dramatic England recall and handed the No10 jersey for the opening Six Nations clash with Italy at Twickenham on Saturday.An England source confirmed London Wasps were aware of the meeting and are also working with the country to get Cipriani back to the form that saw him help England to victory over Ireland in last season's Six Nations before a serious ankle injury halted his career in May.

Goode, who quit Leicester last season to start a new career in France with Brive, has been chosen by Johnson to guide England out of their current problems and he will joined in the team by new cap Steffon Armitage, the London Irish flanker, and Mike Tindall, the World Cup-winning Gloucester centre whose career was put in jeopardy by a horrendous liver injury suffered last season against Wales.Goode, who wins his 10th cap having last played in 2006, scored more than 1,000 points at Leicester but was surplus to requirements under yet another new coaching regime.

He opted to join fellow England internationals Ben Cohen and Steve Thompson at Brive where he has guided the club into the last eight of the European Challenge Cup. The choice of Goode, who is not a member of the 32-strong Elite Player Squad because he plays in France, rather than Cipriani proves Johnson is taking a pragmatic approach to the Six Nations following November defeats by Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.

Goode will be asked to kick England into field position before unleashing a very direct attacking game plan in which Tindall's strength and ability to get over the gain line will be crucial.

Armitage joins brother Delon as reward for an outstanding season with Irish and has benefited from serious injuries to Wasps Tom Rees, Leicester's Lewis Moody and concussion suffered by Michael Lipman, of Bath.

Cipriani, who is expected to sign his new contract with Wasps this week, is sure to bounce back from his latest blow which follows his axing for the match with New Zealand when Toby Flood was chosen to wear the No10 jersey.

Ian McGeechan, the Wasps director of rugby who will be looking for players to join his Lions squad to tackle South Africa in the summer, said: "Danny has spoken to Johnno and this is part of his learning process.

"Now, it's up to Danny to show us what he's made of in Dublin and I am sure he will. Danny is still in the early days of his international career and will want to show how well he can play. In terms of the Lions tour, I am very excited about the Six Nations."