When Martin Johnson began drafting the likes of Julian White and Andy Goode into his extended Six Nations squad it seemed that adding ballast came before giving extra thrust to the good ship of English rugby. And now that the veteran prop takes his place on the bench and the burly outside half, thanks to a calf injury to Toby Flood and the demotion of Danny Cipriani to the Saxons, enters the starting 15, the confirmation is there.
England want to play the game at their pace, and it is not the speed of the hare. This is a selection with first things first in mind, at a time when the invitation to international teams is to invent fresh ways of managing the game in general and keeping the ball off the floor in particular.
Any tingle comes with the brothers Armitage: Steffon introduced into the back row as a ball-carrying, ground-hugging open-side; Delon at full-back, presumably given licence to roam and counter-attack. But the elevation of the wing forward came only because the more experienced Lewis Moody, Michael Lipman and Tom Rees were injured.
To be fair to Johnson, injuries across the board have influenced this selection, which prompts a question about the nature of the Guinness Premiership. The injury rate is higher there. Then there are other factors: the Cipriani collapse in form; the cocaine crisis in Matt Stevens's life. Johnson may not have many coaching badges, but he's certainly getting some experience as a social worker.
Mike Tindall, whose drink-driving was just another case-file for the manager, returns in the centre. This at least is based on old-fashioned good form, as is the return of Mark Cueto to the wing in the pace of another injured player, Ugo Monye.
Players with experience of playing in World Cup finals return, although the feeling persists that the game has changed radically since England's rediscovery of basic values in 2007. Riki Flutey once seemed on course to lead the development of something a little less obvious among the England backs, but it will now be up to Goode and Tindall to nurse the Wasps player into feeling less unsure of himself at international level. That's hardly straining at the limits of what may be achievable on the rugby field.
Up front, Nick Easter wins another vote of confidence for the solid pair of hands, the old hand who can nurse through the players alongside him. James Haskell has bags of talent but has yet to prove his mind works as fast as his legs. Armitage S is simply brand new to all this.
Nick Kennedy thoroughly deserves his chance, but the front five is not going to worry the Italians at the scrum. In fact, if the powers that be had not put an end to the power of the rolling maul, then Italy might be fancying their chances of beating England for the first time.
As it is, however, even England with their speed restrictors fitted, look too, well, advanced for Italy. England have constructed a model built on safety, but still look more daring than Italy. It seems that this will be one of the less startling opening encounters to the Six Nations.
