Test career could be finished for Hodgson

8:22am Monday 16th June 2008

New Zealand 37 England 20

CHARLIE Hodgson's international career is at a crossroads after Rob Andrew indicated England could no longer put up with his defensive frailties.

Hodgson is one of the most naturally- gifted attacking players in England but he was targeted by New Zealand's powerful ball-carriers in the 37-20 defeat in Auckland and came off second best.

Ma'a Nonu swatted him aside in the build-up to New Zealand's third try and Hodgson was replaced by the more steely frame of Jamie Noon after 50 minutes.

Andrew confirmed England will re-assess their fly-half options for next weekend's second Test, with Olly Barkley or Toby Flood the potential replacements.

With new England manager Martin Johnson naming his elite squad for next season on July 1, Hodgson's international career could be on hold once again.

The challenge in international rugby across all positions is to find players that can handle anything,'' said Andrew, England's stand-in manager.

That is what the selection on July 1 will be about. That is why this tour is invaluable. We need to give players opportunities to show what they can do.

The selectors need to find Test players that can cope with every aspect of Test rugby. Bits of Test rugby are not optional.'' For all his creativity, defensive fortitude has never been a feature of Hodgson's game. At the age of 27, that is unlikely to change.

Jonny Wilkinson, Butch James and Dan Carter have proved in recent years how important it is to plug that potentially vulnerable fly-half channel with accomplished tacklers.

It is a physical part of the game now. We knew we would be challenged in that area by New Zealand,'' said Andrew.

Like all players he (Hodgson) has strengths and weaknesses.

Test rugby is about trying to make sure you don't have many weaknesses because you get found out in Test match rugby.

That is a challenge for him to address.'' Hodgson, making his first Test start in 19 months after recovering from a second knee reconstruction, was singled out for much of the post-match attention but coach Mike Ford was furious with the way England defended as a whole.

Three of the four tries came directly from set-piece situations as Dan C a r t e r ripped'' E n g - l a n d ' s d e f e n - s i v e lines apart to finish another eyecatching individual performance with 22 points.

We talked long and hard about what we felt the right selection should be both from a defensive and an attacking point of view,'' said Andrew.

We will have to look carefully at those issues going into next week because you just can't afford to give away two or three soft tries at this level.

We have got to look at some of the areas where we allowed New Zealand, with ball in hand, to make some easy yards.'' If Hodgson is replaced at flyhalf for the Christchurch Test, England's main decision is whether to start with Noon and Mike Tindall in a solid but uninventive midfield or bring Flood into the side.

We will assess what happened in Auckland and which areas we need to look at to try and match the All Blacks across the park,'' Andrew added.

Topsy Ojo scored twice on his Test debut to give the scoreboard a measure of respectability but in the end it flattered England, who failed to create a single line-break.

Conrad Smith, Carter, Mils Muliaina and Sitiveni Sivivatu all scored for the All Blacks in a points blitz either side of the interval.

England trotted out the usual line of taking positives from the defeat'' but, despite New Zealand's dominance, there were some to be found.

England pressured New Zealand at the breakdown with Tom Rees and Luke Narraway particularly effective in frustrating Richie McCaw.

The line-out also went well, with England stealing or disrupting seven of the All Blacks' throws, and the scrum improved as the match went on.

There were certain areas where people thought we might have struggled but we matched them in the back row and the breakdown,'' said Andrew.

There is a huge frustration over some of the lapses. The players will want to get back in against the All Blacks.

I am sure they will improve.

Our challenge is to make sure the players have the right attitude going into next week.''