England captaincy battle

Richard Hill has emerged as a surprise contender to replace Martin Johnson as England captain for the Six Nations.

The World Cup winning skipper is expected to confirm his retirement from international rugby next weekend, releasing his reasons in a newspaper column after playing for Leicester in the Heineken Cup return clash with Ulster on Saturday.

Hill led England to victory against the New Zealand Barbarians but has been sidelined since the match following an operation to repair a badly shattered nose.

The Saracens flanker's captaincy experience is limited, but he is a certainty for a place in the back row and is likely to remain around longer at test level than Lawrence Dallaglio, the more obvious man to take over from Johnson. Dallaglio had to give up the England captaincy in 1999 amid allegations of drug use in a Sunday newspaper.

Although the Rugby Football Union charge relating to drugs was later dropped, he was still fined for bringing the game into disrepute.

Although Dallaglio's leadership of London Wasps has been outstanding it is felt Sir Clive Woodward wants a captain who is less headstrong than Dallaglio.

Another option for England's head coach is Neil Back, but at 35 the Leicester flanker would be a very short term appointment and there is no guarantee he will be available for the summer tour to New Zealand and Australia.

It is this trip Down Under that has brought about the change in captaincy with Johnson unwilling to commit himself to yet another summer of hard rugby graft when the alternative is to spend time with his wife Kay and Molly, their young daughter.

If Hill's late bid for the leadership fails, then the favourite for the job is Gloucester prop Phil Vickery, who impressed Woodward by leading a very inexperienced England team to victory in Argentina two seasons ago.

The England coach will reveal his new captain next week when he unveils his squad for the opening Six Nations match against Italy.

Matt Dawson and Jonny Wilkinson will also be mentioned as potential leaders, Dawson in the short term and England's fly-half as the man who could take charge for the World Cup defence in 2007 in France.

For now, both players need to concentrate on getting fully fit and Wilkinson's neck and shoulder injuries makes him a suspect choice at present.