BAGSHOT, ENGLAND // The England manager Martin Johnson stamped his mark on the England team when he included four uncapped players in the team to face the Pacific Islands at Twickenham on Saturday.
Though his hand was forced by injuries, Johnson has made a bold statement for his first game in charge, ahead of further matches against Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.
The back line has a particularly fresh look with Delon Armitage making his debut at full-back in the absence of the injured duo Nick Abendanon and Mathew Tait.
The former Junior All Black Riki Flutey, newly-qualified under the residency rule and voted the Premiership player of the year by his peers last season, starts at inside centre, with Ugo Monye debuting on the wing.
There is an exciting 'Danny Double' at halfback where the fly-half Danny Cipriani, back to form and fitness ahead of schedule after his horrific ankle injury last season, teams up with Danny Care.
Cipriani and Care, both 21, have only five caps between them but both have the creative, defence-unlocking talent that England have been crying out for since the Jonny Wilkinson and Matt Dawson partnership in 2003.
Jamie Noon has 30 caps and Paul Sackey, even though he made his debut only two years ago, has 15 but the other five backs have just five caps, and only two starts, between them.
Nick Kennedy debuts in the second row alongside the captain Steve Borthwick, while the uncapped hooker Dylan Hartley, is on the bench, with the experienced Lee Mears given the starting berth.
Nick Easter, initially left out of the squad after injury and a dip in form, goes straight into the starting team at number eight after Luke Narraway was ruled out with a hamstring problem.
England team: Delon Armitage, Paul Sackey, Jamie Noon, Riki Flutey, Ugo Monye, Danny Cipriani, Danny Care; Nick Easter, Tom Rees, Tom Croft, Nick Kennedy, Steve Borthwick (captain), Matt Stevens, Lee Mears, Andrew Sheridan.
Replacements: Dylan Hartley, Phil Vickery, Tom Palmer, James Haskell, Michael Lipman, Harry Ellis, Toby Flood.
*Reuters
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What are the regulations?
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Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
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Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950