Martin Johnson
Martin Johnson speaks to a news conference ahead of England's quarter-final against France. REUTERS

Martin Johnson included both Jonny Wilkinson and Toby Flood in a new-look back-line ahead of this weekend's World Cup quarter-final match against France.

Nick Easter, Tom Palmer and Mark Cueto have also been promoted to the starting line-up for Saturday's match. Easter and Palmer come in for James Haskell and Courtney Lawes, while Flood is set to start at inside centre after Mike Tindall failed to recover from injury.

"It's not a gamble, you always put a lot of thought into your selections, no more so than in the quarter-finals of the World Cup," Johnson told a news conference Thursday.

"It's one of our options, we believe we've picked the best team for this particular match."

Wilkinson, England's record points-scorer, will wear the No.10 shirt but Johnson is yet to decide whether the fly-half would retain kicking duties, or if Toby Flood would assume responsibility.

So far at this tournament Wilkinson has converted just nine of his 20 kicks at goal, whereas Flood has landed 10 of 13.

"It is an exciting combination for us," said Johnson. "It gives us Toby's kicking game and his passing game.

"Johnny has had a lot of long kicks and going into a game like this you do not want to be playing against Johnny Wilkinson."

Team: 15-Ben Foden, 14-Chris Ashton, 13-Manu Tuilagi, 12-Toby Flood, 11-Mark Cueto, 10-Jonny Wilkinson, 9-Ben Youngs, 8-Nick Easter, 7-Lewis Moody (captain), 6-Tom Croft, 5-Tom Palmer, 4-Louis Deacon, 3-Dan Cole, 2-Steve Thompson, 1-Matt Stevens.

Replacements: 16-Dylan Hartley, 17-Alex Corbisiero, 18-Courtney Lawes, 19-Simon Shaw, 20-James Haskell, 21-Richard Wigglesworth, 22-Matt Banahan.