Simon Shaw will make his first start under Martin Johnson after getting a shock England recall at the tender age of 36 to play France on Saturday.

Johnson, who embellished in more than his fair share of ugly Anglo-Saxon battles in his time, has ordered an extra serving of meat with Shaw beefing up the England pack at the expense of the "gutted" in-form London Irish lock Nick Kennedy.

Kennedy, like poor little Matt Tait, can count himself desperately unfortunate, especially considering another incomer, Ugo Monye was picked ahead of Paul Sackey on form rather than a niggle or two.

"Nick is unlucky but it's about getting a balance," Johnson said.

A Shaw-Kennedy combination would certainly appease a few flabbergasted fans, which have fired missiles at current underperforming captain, Steve Borthwick.

Borthwick survives the cut with Johnson a la Sven Goran Eriksson, seemingly wrapping his skipper up in cotton wool and with the straightest of bats, rejecting any suggestions that the Saracen was undeserving of his place.

"No, we didn't consider leaving him out. Yes, I think he's doing tremendous job for us, sometimes in very difficult circumstances."

The stronger, more direct, Monye returns to international duty on the left-wing after a brief exodus since the autumn with Mark Cueto reverting to his more favourable right-wing position.

Shaw's resurrection, his last England appearance coming in the 2008 Six Nations, has also prompted a re-think on the back-row with current club colleague, James Haskell being replaced by leaner and substantially smarter athlete, Tom Croft.

Croft brings extra line-out expertees as well as a rare turn of space for a No. 6, which Johnson clearly sees as a critical area to combat superior marathon men, Thierry Dusautoir, Imanol Harinordoquy and the caveman, Sebastien Chabal.

England: D Armitage (London Irish); U Monye (Harlequins), M Tindall (Gloucester), R Flutey (Wasps), M Cueto (Sale Sharks); T Flood (Leicester), H Ellis (Leicester); A Sheridan (Sale Sharks), L Mears (Bath), P Vickery (Wasps), S Borthwick (Saracens, capt), S Shaw (Wasps), T Croft (Leicester), J Worsley (Wasps), N Easter (Harlequins).

Replacements: D Hartley (Northampton), J White (Leicester), J Haskell (Wasps), N Kennedy (London Irish), D Care (Harlequins), A Goode (Brive), M Tait (Sale Sharks).

France: 15-Maxime Medard, 14-Julien Malzieu, 13-Mathieu Bastareaud, 12-Yannick Jauzion, 11-Cedric Heymans, 10-Francois Trinh-Duc, 9-Morgan Parra; 8-Imanol Harinordoquy, 7-Sebastien Chabal, 6-Thierry Dusautoir, 5-Jerome Thion, 4-Lionel Nallet (captain), 3-Sylvain Marconnet, 2-Dimitri Szarzewski, 1-Lionel Faure.

Replacements: 16-Benjamin Kayzer, 17-Thomas Domingo, 18-Louis Picamoles, 19-Julien Bonnaire, 20-Sebastien Tillous-Borde, 21-Florian Fritz, 22-Damien Traille.