This week England coach Brian Ashton faces a difficult dilemma - whether to select a squad full of promising young talent, or choose some Rugby Union giants who can live with the power of the bigger teams.

Players such as Mathew Tait, Nick Abendanon and David Strettle are very promising, full of enthusiasm and not afraid to chance their arm on the field. In attack, I’d love to see them skip past New Zealand's Aaron Mauger or cruise around Australia's Chris Latham.

However, in defence, I am wincing at the prospect of seeing them brushed aside by the likes of All-Black Ma’a Nonu and steam-rolled by Samoan powerhouse Alesana Tuilagi.

England have made a balls-up of the preparation for this World Cup. At this late hour, Ashton should choose players like Mike Tindall (if fit, obviously), Andy Farrell and Josh Lewsey purely for their sheer physicality and brute force. Indeed, I never thought I’d be saying this, but Ben Cohen should go to France!

Of course, the balance between strength and style holds the key to success. Some of the best centre partnerships - such as Will Greenwood / Tindall, Will Carling / Jeremy Guscott, Scott Gibbs / Allan Bateman – have combined these two facets well. Looking at the current crop of England centres, I would be inclined to select a player like Farrell alongside Dan Hipkiss.

Farrell will offer physical presence in midfield, as well as excellent handling and playmaking abilities, while Hipkiss can break lines whilst punching above his weight in defence.

In addition to just size, there is the key factor of aggression. This is particularly important at the breakdown where, in recent years, England have been regularly beaten by the Southern Hemisphere teams (and France, Ireland and Wales). Too many turnovers have been conceded at the contact area for England to even get close to winning the game.

The forwards need more conviction in their rucking to blitz the opposition and prevent them from competing. A player like Neil Back, who did not have a huge physical presence, had an excellent technique at the breakdown and opposition players would choose not to compete with him, ensuring that England consistently recycled the ball.

With just under three months to go to the Rugby World Cup, perhaps there is still time. Ashton should select his training squad carefully, choosing a mixture of grunt and guile - but with the training time available, he must coach that aggression at the breakdown so that the ruthless rucking returns before we face South Africa and Samoa in the group stages. My 40-man training squad would be: