Let joy be unconfined - Martin Johnson names his first England squad and Iain Balshaw is not in it.

142 stone former England frankenstein Martin Johnson has named his squad for the forthcoming tour of New Zealand.  This, remember, is a tour that he is not actually going on and will have little influence over as he is staying at home and putting Rob "250k a year" Andrew in charge.

On the up side, Balshaw and Big Les are out (hooray!), but there is no place for Shane Geraghty, Nick Abendanon or Tom Varndell (boo!).  Of those coming in, I hope that Danny Care gets a run at scrum-half even if it is off the bench and Mike Brown should start at full-back. 

New Zealand are in a funny situation at the minute; the 2008 Super 14 variety has not proved to be a great vintage, and the collective hangover from the World Cup capitulation has not had enough Alka-Seltzer to dull its effects completely.  Still, they should win at home against an England team that is in transistion and has a four-eyed midget of questionable management credentials in temporary charge.

The autumn is the test, when the two-eyed giant of questionable management credentials is in permanent charge.   Full squad after the jump...

Backs: Mike Brown, Paul Sackey, David Strettle, Topsy Ojo, Mathew Tait, Mike Tindall, Jamie Noon, Toby Flood, Olly Barkley, Danny Cipriani, Charlie Hodgson, Richard Wigglesworth, Peter Richards, Danny Care

Forwards: Matt Stevens, Andrew Sheridan, Tim Payne, Jason Hobson, Lee Mears, Dylan Hartley, David Paice, Nick Kennedy, Steve Borthwick (captain), Ben Kay, Tom Palmer, Tom Croft, James Haskell, Joe Worsley, Michael Lipman, Tom Rees, Nick Easter, Luke Narraway

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