Martin Johnson would be well advised to make his final decision on England’s starting XV to play Australia at the last possible moment. On this season’s evidence, injury will only intervene and push him in a different direction altogether.

Johnson, the England team manager, will announce tomorrow his squad for the first match of the Investec Challenge Series at Twickenham on Saturday, and he was still making amendments throughout the weekend. The recurrence of Mike Tindall’s hamstring injury on Friday night forced a midfield rethink while yesterday Nick Kennedy, apparently not in the coaches’ thinking a week ago, was recalled to boost the second-row resources.

One of the few plus points was the return to action of Simon Shaw for the first time since his heroics with the Lions in the summer. The lock, who has spent the past two months recovering from a damaged metatarsal in his left foot, appeared for the final half-hour of the Guinness Premiership game between London Wasps and Leeds Carnegie, headed a rolling maul that covered 25 metres and forced a penalty for Wasps, but was left flat on his back as Leeds played out the final few seconds for a famous win.

Shaw needs more game time but could win a recall as the month wears on; Joe Worsley finished the game at No 8 for Wasps but did little to suggest that he will press for a place against Australia after an injury-plagued season. But the choice of England’s coaches elsewhere was instructive: Kennedy, who has played every minute of London Irish’s Premiership programme this season, was called up after the withdrawal of Richard Blaze from Leicester’s line-up to play Northampton.

Blaze was troubled by a sore right foot, a condition that comes and goes since he had two pins inserted for a stress fracture during the close season. He remains an England squad member, but will recover with his club, so he will not make his international debut alongside Steve Borthwick. Louis Deacon, Ben Kay and young Courtney Lawes remain ahead of Kennedy in the pecking order, but at least his merits will receive another airing in training after seven England caps last season.

Another uncapped player was added to the squad after Tindall’s mishap during Gloucester’s defeat by Sale Sharks on Friday. Ayoola Erinle, once of Wasps and Leicester but now with Biarritz, was called up as cover, which says something about the standing with England’s hierarchy of two former Newcastle Falcons, Jamie Noon and Tom May. They, too, are based in France, with Brive and Toulon respectively, and both were involved last season but have been bypassed by the powerful Erinle.

He has settled well with Biarritz and although troubled by a back problem, has been a regular selection, starting against Montauban on the wing on Saturday. However, Johnson will now surely choose Dan Hipkiss at outside centre against Australia and still has the gifted Mathew Tait in reserve.

Australia, meanwhile, arrived in London yesterday after losing 32-19 to New Zealand in the final Bledisloe Cup match of the year, played in Tokyo. They will name this morning the XV to play Gloucester at Kingsholm tomorrow and Robbie Deans, the coach, is happier after Saturday’s game. “We’re back playing rugby, which we hadn’t done for two months, so that’s a good launching pad for us to push on to the UK,” he said.

The All Blacks will be without Sitiveni Sivivatu and Tony Woodcock for Saturday’s clash with Wales in Cardiff. Both were suspended for a week at a disciplinary tribunal, Sivivatu for a dangerous tackle on Adam Ashley-Cooper that might have earned him a red card rather than a yellow one, and Woodcock, the experienced prop, for striking George Smith.

South Africa, the Tri-Nations champions, include nine newcomers in their 37-strong squad, which begins a five-match tour against Leicester on Friday. They will be without Jean de Villiers, now with Munster, and François Steyn (Racing Métro 92) from the side that beat the Lions in the summer, while Juan Smith, the flanker, is injured. “We’re No 1 in the world and we seriously want to stay there,” Peter de Villiers, the coach, said. “We don’t want to be caught with our pants down when the first-stringers leave the scene at the same time. There’s still life after the 2011 World Cup and we want to leave a legacy.”

South Africa squad

Backs: Z Kirchner, R Viljoen, J-P Pietersen, B Habana, O Ndungane, J Nokwe, M Bosman, J Fourie, F Hougaard, A Jacobs, J de Jongh, W Olivier, R Pienaar, E Rose, M Steyn, H Adams, F du Preez.

Forwards: H van der Merwe, T Mtawarira, J du Plessis, J Smit, G Steenkamp, B Maku, B du Plessis, C Ralepelle, A Bekker, J Botha, A Hargreaves, V Matfield, D Rossouw, H Brussow, S Burger, A Johnson, R Kankowski, D Potgieter, D Raubenheimer, P Spies.

Itinerary: Nov 6: Leicester. Nov 13: France (Toulouse). Nov 17: Saracens (Wembley). Nov 21: Italy (Udine). Nov 28: Ireland (Dublin).