There are signs, if no more than that, of a changing of the guard. Whether Martin Johnson, announcing his first tour party as manager of England, has had the luxury of choice or not, there are enough newcomers travelling to New Zealand next month to hint at the next international generation.

Johnson could, for example, have taken George Chuter but left him to be one of the old heads in the Saxons squad to defend the Churchill Cup. Instead Dylan Hartley and David Paice accompany Lee Mears as hookers and, should the shoulder injury that affected Mears during Bath's defeat by Gloucester last weekend prevent him touring, then it would be Hartley or Paice winning a first cap.

Plenty of the new-age players were already on the horizon, having been picked by Brian Ashton when he was England's coach. Danny Cipriani, Tom Croft, James Haskell all venture into pastures new, indeed 21 of the 32 players were in the squad named by Ashton in January to contest this year's RBS Six Nations Championship and of those no longer there, half at least were either unavailable through injury or need a summer off for rehabilitation.

It could have been more. Johnson is taking Danny Care, who is ending the Guinness Premiership season as the form scrum half in the country, and Topsy Ojo, who has made so great an impact on the wing during London Irish's progress to the semi-finals of the Heineken Cup. He might have added Ben Foden and Tom Guest to the mix since inevitably, in a squad of 32 on a two-match visit, there will be players who are not given game time.

But it will be more valuable if such players are on the field for the Saxons which will itself be a competitive environment. Equally, on his form for Bath, Danny Grewcock may have deserved a place on the tour, even at the age of 35; but Johnson had a long discussion with Grewcock, one of his former second-row partners, canvassing his opinion on the up-and-comers as much as anything, and clearly decided to look forward by giving Nick Kennedy a chance.

The most important element for Johnson will be the mood in which the squad travels: most will end the Premiership season uplifted by the quality and intensity of the rugby being played, exactly the environment required for the internationals in Auckland and Christchurch. He is not guaranteeing a 2-0 series triumph, not in a country where so few visitors have succeeded, but he will know whether these players have the right attitude which will make them winners in the longer term.

It will also be a significant stage in the career of Steve Borthwick. The Bath lock, who has so frequently had to wait in the shadows - of Johnson himself and Grewcock, among others - takes over the captaincy in the absence of Phil Vickery as one of the most respected operators in the Premiership, and one of the game's deeper thinkers. Make a success of this tour and the leadership could be his for much longer than just three weeks in June.