11.  Regular England captain Martin Johnson is being rested by Woodward, along with a number of other key players who were with the Lions in Australia.

12.  Regular England captain Mike Atherton was sidelined for the match with a back injury and the leadership was taken over by Nasser Hussain.

13.  Regular captain Courtney Walsh has not recovered sufficiently from a pulled hamstring which he sustained in a Red Stripe Cup match over the past weekend.

14.  Scrum-half Peter Slattery and regular captain and fly-half Michael Lynagh are on the replacements bench.

15.  South Africa went into the match without regular captain and leading bowler Shaun Pollock, who withdrew because of a side strain.