WE HAVE checked with the Government and there are no plans to declare this Tuesday a public holiday, despite the weighty significance. The iconic (sorry, Martin) Martin Johnson officially takes over as England’s team manager, and the agreement between the Rugby Football Union and Premier Rugby Limited, the clubs’ body, comes into effect, which allows the England coaches more time with their charges. Furthermore, Johnson announces the 32 names to make up his first England squad, the first such grouping over which Twickenham will be allowed a measure of central control.

And yet none of this is the chief significance. Tuesday is No Excuses day, the day when those in charge of the England team can bleat no more. Hierarchy after England hierarchy has complained about the system, the Premiership, the weather, the phase of the moon, and in my memory it is only Sir Clive Woodward who has managed to avoid the whinge trap, chiefly because with his results, he did not have to complain. Now, England have to win. Have to.

I am not convinced that giving the England coaches more time with their players will make the team any better. It may, but only provided that the coaches are outstanding.

Recently, a poll of England squad members indicated that most of them are far more impressed with their club coaching set-up than with that of England. Johnson, as a matter of the utmost urgency, must decide if his current set-up, headed by John Wells and Mike Ford, is good enough. It should be brilliant, the best in England. If it is not, then he can announce any 32 names this Tuesday and it will not make tuppence worth of difference.

What of the fateful 32? There may just be the odd one or two among you who have gathered that I am not in favour of choosing youngsters making their way. One senior member of the England cabal remonstrated with me last week for being critical of Danny Care, the promising Harlequins scrum-half, for his impersonation of a headless chicken in the Test in Christchurch last Saturday. “He is a young man finding his way,” I was told.

For the sake of harmony, I kept my own counsel - apart from demanding to know how my complainant dared use a full Test match between New Zealand and England to develop a player. There are any number of routes for development and rule one of the Johnson era must be that England choose the best players for international rugby, and if they are all aged 50 or above, then tough. The single most ruinous aspect of the previous three coaching regimes in England (headed by Andy Robinson, Brian Ashton and Rob Andrew) is that they discarded people above their mid20s in favour of tyros, therefore abandoning the lifeblood of experience and, frankly, achieving a set of results that has been on the humiliating side of deplorable.

My own squad is notable for the lack of tyros, with only a few exceptions - one of them is Richard Blaze, the Leicester lock, who is in because England are desperately short in the vital position in the centre of the lineout and because Blaze is a talented giant who must be exposed rapidly to the full blast of the Johnson influence. Apart from that, the boy scouts are all back in the scout hut.

My suggestions in the problem midfield area are that Olly Barkley should be given more than one match to prove himself - the haste with which he was discarded after the First Test in New Zealand was stunning. Riki Flutey, the influential New Zealand-born inside-centre from Wasps, will be available to England from September and must be included. Here we have to leave aside the question of nationality and whether outsiders should be chosen, but we can say that if a player as exotic, outlandish and poor as Lesley Vainikolo can be chosen by England, then Flutey certainly must be.

In the backs, in the absence of Danny Cipriani, I have opted for proven ability rather than youthful punting, and have gone for all-round footballing experience in my back three - taking it for granted that Tom Varndell, that extravagant talent, will not play like a rabbit in the headlights as he did in New Zealand. Ugo Monye, of Harlequins, is leading the field from the rest of the younger wings, not least because he defends like a charging rhinoceros, belying his apparent lack of stature. Danny Hipkiss is next in line at outside-centre, succeeding a group of young players who have been given too many chances when too young, and offered too little.

Up front, Jordan Crane gets the vote over Nick Easter at No 8, with Danny Grewcock recalled to add some muscle. My team discards the valiant Steve Borthwick, the recent England captain, and 13 players in all who either made the New Zealand tour or were originally selected for it.

It will come to nothing if the No Excuses era brings more lack of focus, poor coaching and boy scouts.

As I said last week, Johnson must run this squad, and choose the squad, totally in his own image, and totally to win matches. If he succeeds, then every day may be a holiday.

Stephen Jones’s England squad
Full backs/wings: J Lewsey, P Sackey (both Wasps), U Monye, M Brown (both Harlequins), T Varndell (Leicester)
Centres: M Tindall, O Barkley (both Gloucester), R Flutey (Wasps), D Hipkiss (Leicester)
Fly-halves: J Wilkinson (Newcastle), C Hodgson (Sale)
Scrum-halves: H Ellis (Leicester), R Wigglesworth (Sale), S Perry (Bristol)
Props: A Sheridan (Sale), T Payne, P Vickery (both Wasps), M Stevens (Bath)
Hookers: D Hartley (Northampton), D Paice (London Irish), L Mears (Bath)
Locks: S Shaw, T Palmer (both Wasps), R Blaze (Leicester), D Grewcock (Bath)
Flankers: J Haskell, T Rees (both Wasps), T Croft, L Moody (both Leicester), M Lipman (Bath)
No 8s: J Crane (Leicester), L Narraway (Gloucester)

Left out: Backs: D Strettle, M Tait, T Flood, S Geraghty, T Ojo, D Care, J Noon, P Richards. Forwards: S Borthwick, N Easter, J Hobson, N Kennedy, J Worsley