Wilkinson may not make the trip as he makes a slow recovery from shoulder surgery and, although Woodward will give the fly-half every chance to prove his fitness, he will not take any chances with the World Cup hero.

I am just leaving it up to him. We will see what the medical people say but the most important thing from our point of view is that he recovers fully, said Woodward.

If he is 100 per cent fit I will take him. If he isnt, I will not take him and we will look forward to having him back in the side for the autumn.

When you go to Australia and New Zealand it isnt the place to take anyone who isnt fully match fit or even anyone only 99 per cent fit.

While Woodward appears resigned to being without his kicking star, he is anxious to have locks Simon Shaw and Danny Grewcock on duty as he bids to fill the gap left by World Cup captain Martin Johnsons retirement from international rugby.

Injuries to both players during the 2004 RBS 6 Nations Championship disrupted
Woodwards plans as England suffered defeats against France and Ireland and the coach is hoping that the duo will be fit and raring to go for the opening Test against the All Blacks in Dunedin.

He said: I just hope we will have everyone fit. We want to come away with victories."

England will go aiming to stretch their run of victories over Southern Hemisphere teams to 13 and Woodward believes that defending their status as the worlds best should be just the incentive to bring the best out of his players.

The reason we won the World Cup is because we relished going head to head with Southern Hemisphere teams. I believe we are at our best when we play these sides."