Despite little game-time, Martin Johnson has put his faith in Andrew Sheridan and selected the Sale Sharks Prop for the World Cup.
Giant prop back in action ahead of World Cup
England manager Martin Johnson is no fan of selection 'gambles', which says something about the selection of Andrew Sheridan, who has only played once for Sale Sharks since the Six Nations due to surgery on his bicep.
"They chopped the bicep," explained Sheridan. "They cut off the bit that was damaged with a pair of scissors and reattached the bicep to another part of the shoulder. The bicep tendon is shorter now -- but I am still as flexible as ever!
"I also had to have what was called a revision operation because the anchors had come out from the previous op, which hadn't worked. I played with the problem but there was a weakness there."
At 6ft 5in, Sheridan is unusually tall for a prop and that means he is rarely physically outmatched in a forward battle.
Sheridan made his first of 38 England caps in Canada in 2004 and was then, controversially, selected for the 2005 British and Irish Lions tour of New Zealand where he made five appearances for the midweek team, later becoming a full Test Lion in South Africa two years ago.
Johnson felt Sheridan had "enough credit", and chose to give him an England recall by picking him in the starting side for the team's final warm-up match, against Ireland in Dublin.
In a measure of the gruelling fate that is a prop's life, Sheridan has also had two operations on his left shoulder since October, after suffering a serious dislocation during a European Cup match against Cardiff Blues.
Fighting for places
Asked if he feared for his World Cup place, Sheridan said: "Yes, definitely. When the initial 45-man squad was announced I certainly wasn't counting my chickens.
"I was just concentrating on trying to recover from a third shoulder operation in 18 months. It was quite a major operation to come back from."
But with England's first pool match in New Zealand against renowned scrummagers Argentina, Johnson felt he had to have Sheridan in his 30-man squad despite a lack of game-time.
"I wanted him on the field to play before we named the World Cup squad," said Johnson.
"We tried to push his return to the second Wales game. You are always impatient to get him back quicker but we felt he had enough credit to go (to the World Cup) and to get picked this week."
England, who already have several injury concerns, will be desperate for Sheridan to come through unscathed against Ireland.
And the player himself is well aware of how hard it will be to get back to his best form.
"I am going to be pretty rusty as far as playing time is concerned so it is important just to get out and play in a physical game," Sheridan said.
