Having been rested from last week's error-strewn win over Georgia, Tindall faced the media for the first time since his now infamous night out in Queenstown more than a week ago.

But manager Martin Johnson insisted all that could be said about the off-field distractions had already been said, intercepting the questions thrown at his inside center as consistently he used to catch lineout ball for his country.

"We've played since then," Johnson said. "We've put it to bed." Tindall's return in place of Shontayne Hape was one of seven changes to the side that ran in six tries to beat Georgia 41-10 but conceded a string of first-half penalties and soft turnovers as they chased more late scores.

"We weren't happy with the game on Sunday," Tindall said. "This week's been outstanding. We've been a few men down but all the training days have been really good; really sharp and a big step up from the last two or three weeks." Mark Cueto will start his first match at this year's tournament after missing the wins over Argentina and Georgia because of a back problem, replacing Delon Armitage on the wing for Saturday's match at Dunedin's Otago Stadium.

Armitage dropped to the replacements, while with Jonny Wilkinson back at flyhalf outside Ben Youngs.

The remaining changes were in the forward, with Alex Corbisiero making his first tournament start at loosehead, Steve Thompson replacing Dylan Hartley at hooker, Louis Deacon coming in for veteran lock Simon Shaw and Tom Croft replacing Tom Wood at blindside.

James Haskell will make a second straight start at No. 8 with Nick Easter not considered because of a back injury.

England's medics will assess Easter's condition after the weekend.

Johnson said this week's debrief and analysis had addressed the problems in the win over Georgia, with frustration rather than anger his main emotion when looking back.

"I always look angry, even on a good day," Johnson said. "It was a good honest review of where we are and what we need to do to get better.

"But it's no good saying you've had a good training week and not doing it out there."