I do not see Sheridan's loss as that significant if England pursue a wider game playing with an athletic pack. Sheridan is a good driving forward but lacks the mobility to fully complement that wider game. Stephens is a more versatile prop and scrummager, although not as powerful. For me a more critical selection is Deacon vs Palmer and Wilkinson vs Flood.
Lawes is a magnificent athlete who generates great leverage and hits like a truck. Echoing for Lee Grant has said, he has the speed and stamina to get into good positions and has that tremendous lateral movement to fill defensive holes that other locks simply cannot. He is a lock for selection (enjoy the pun), but who joins him?
Deacon is a grunt, a very good grunt and harkens back to the days when Wells had a greater influence on selection that Brian Smith. If England choose to play a tighter, driving & mauling game then Deacon's selection will be a strong clue. Palmer will give England a more mobile front five capable of footing it with the best.
England have not suffered from a lack of ball, but an inability to generate and use good fast ball effectively. The primary deficiency has been one of selection where Brian Smith's higher tempo full width of the field aspirations have been suffocated by Wells/Johnson selection preferences. Johnson changed his orientation following England's June 2010 tour when it was evident that the law interpretations at Test level strongly favored a ball in hand approach and that possession trumped territory every time.
With law interpretations no longer so clear cut, the direction and decision making from 10,12 have been critical. Here England have not fared well. Johnson has not persisted with Flood after a few less than stellar performances, but he had been solid in big tests when Smith got his wider game plan. Wilkinson just plays a more ball control game than the one favored by Smith. However, form is critical and Wilkinson was adjudge to have it more so than Flood. but does it reveal that Johnson has shifted his orientation again to a more conservative game plan? For me, Deacon is the clue.
