Coventry kid Tom Wood gets debut

COV kid Tom Wood will make his England debut in Friday night’s RBS 6 Nations opener against Wales at the Millennium Stadium.The Northampton ace joins Neil Back and Danny Grewcock in the exclusive club of former Barkers’ Butts players to turn out in a full international.

And confirmation of his inclusion in a side captained by Mike Tindall completes a remarkable turnaround for the towering forward who did not make England’s original 33-man squad but has been promoted from the Saxons because of a string of injuries. Lewis Moody and Tom Croft are both missing from the back row while Northampton lock Courtney Lawes is in danger of being sidelined for the whole championship with a knee injury.

Wood, 24, will pack down at blindside flanker and offer England a back-row lineout option in Croft’s absence, while James Haskell will start in the less familiar role on the openside. Leicester lock Louis Deacon returns in the second row to partner Tom Palmer in place of Lawes.

An athletic 6ft 5in and 16st 7lb, former Woodlands School pupil Wood is in his first year with Heineken Cup quarter-finalists Northampton after three seasons at Worcester.