Woodward departs for the summer tour with his first-choice squad after Mike Tindall and Phil Christophers passed fitness tests earlier today, while David Flatman should have recovered from his Achilles injury in time for the second clash against the All Blacks.

Even with Woodwards preferred 31-strong party England have been tipped to struggle against the antipodeans thanks to the absence of key personnel such as Jonny Wilkinson, Will Greenwood and Phil Vickery.

And the recent retirement of veteran internationals like Martin Johnson and Neil Back - two players who starred during last summers triumphant tour to the southern hemisphere - has further weakened the World Cup winners hand.

But Woodward feels the challenge of maintaining Englands ascendancy against the Tri-Nations heavyweights will give his troops all the ammunition they need for victory - with skipper Lawrence Dallaglio leading the charge.

We went down there last year at the end of a long season but we were motivated for the games because champion players relish the chance to play against the best teams in the world, he said.

Lawrence Dallaglio is looking forward to the tour and he sets the lead. These matches dont need a lot of talking about - were highly motivated and not there to make up the numbers. We wont be using rhetoric because the hunger is there already.

Were the number one team in the world, were the World Cup holders and we dont want to lose our position at the top of the game.

Were travelling with good players who have been picked on form. Our success has been very limited in New Zealand and Australia and were looking forward to the games.

Tests like these are the environment in which you want to see England compete away
from Twickenham.

International rugby is all about challenges likes these.

Woodward could be hamstrung by New Zealands coaching line-up of Graham Henry,
Wayne Smith and Steve Hansen as all three have an excellent understanding of Englands players.

Henry was British Lions coach in Australia three years ago, Smith has just finished a stint in charge of the Zurich Premierships third-place team Northampton while Hansen left Welsh rugbys top job after the 2004 RBS 6 Nations.

But Woodward, flanked by his coaching lieutenants Andy Robinson and Phil Larder, said: Their experience with English players is not as a problem as world rugby is a small game anyway. We also know a lot about them.

Andy and Phil worked with Graham on the Lions tour while the Saints boys in the squad know all about Wayne. And of course weve played against Hansens Wales many times so we know what to expect there.