Interesting selections most of which I would say Ashton has got right such as the return of Vickery, Shaw and Robinson.
I'm also encouraged by the fact he's left the back row unchanged as Dallaglio is sadly well past his best and Worsley always seems to leave his club form behind when he plays for England. I also believe it's a mistake having both those two on the bench instead of Rees who gives a different option that could well be needed in the later stages of the game.
Shaw for Borthwick is a good call as Borthwick and Kay are too similar in style and Shaw does have more of a Johnson-esque presence around the park. I never understood why Grewcock has been preferred to Shaw down the years either.
All through Farrell's international union career he has looked far from comfortable. A skillful player but he is too pedestrian to be an international centre and has to consider himself lucky that England are not blessed with outstanding centres currently. The fact he's been picked is down to the shortcomings of others rather than any great ability of his own.
I believe the Barkley/Tait combination is too lightweight to take on the Aussies and the game has probably come too soon for Hipkiss who is potentially the best centre out of all four of them. So Farrell is the damage limitation option I guess picked because he's a big bloke who can hopefully stand up defensively.
However the most shocking decision for me is the recall of Regan who is another good player but well past his best. Chuter is just as good in the scrum and can be just as nasty ( which seems to be why Regan has been recalled) but more importantly Chuter is better throwing into the lineout and vastly superior in open play.
All in all it seems very much a dour rugged team selection that is unlikely to play much flowing rugby, if any!, but there isn't really a whole lot of choice sadly.

They do have a chance though as they Aussie's are not outstanding themselves but it's a slim chance at best and depends on the pack having the game of their lives.
