RUGBY SIX NATIONS: Steve Hansen, Wales's coach until the end of the Six Nations campaign in April, says he is keen to secure the job on a permanent basis but he has no intention of going down on his hands and knees to the Welsh Rugby Union and begging to be kept on.

Hansen, a laconic New Zealander from the South Island, was appointed the caretaker coach of Wales this month after the resignation of Graham Henry, and the WRU will name a full-time successor at the end of April.

"I want the job, but I am not worried about my future," said Hansen, who yesterday made two changes to the Wales team for Saturday's meeting with Italy at the Millennium Stadium. "It is down to the WRU to make a decision and they can appoint anyone they want.

"It is their call, while my job is to coach the side and protect the players from outside pressures. The WRU and I want the same thing, a successful Wales, but they are not going to bully me into doing anything. If that was the case I would not be doing the job."

Hansen's two changes have come in the pack. Iestyn Thomas has replaced Spencer John at loose-head prop to provide more energy in the loose and power in the scrum, and Ian Gough has replaced the injured Craig Quinnell in the second row.

Saturday's game with the Azzurri is being billed as a potential wooden spoon decider, both sides having lost their opening two matches, and it says everything about the task facing Hansen that the crowd at the Millennium Stadium may be less than 50,000, easily the lowest for a Six Nations match at the ground.

Hansen has had the players training outside in the cold and wet this week as he seeks to harden them mentally as well as physically.

Meanwhile, the English Rugby Football Union broke with tradition yesterday when it appointed a leading QC, David Pannick, to determine at an appeal hearing next Tuesday whether it had the right to ban the Leicester and England captain Martin Johnson for throwing a punch after the incident had been dealt with by the match referee.

Instead of convening another three-man panel, two members of which would have been RFU officials under customary practice, Twickenham has tried to head off the possibility of Leicester, who are backed by Premier Rugby Partnership, taking the matter to the High Court should the appeal fail by appointing Pannick, who has no rugby background, as the arbiter.

The choice was welcomed by the PRP chief executive Howard Thomas: "We have total confidence in his ability to hear this very important case. There was no way the RFU could appoint another three-man panel comprising two of its own members as only an independent review will do.

"The arbitrary way the panel was convened, then gave itself the power to sit in judgment raised a fundamental issue which needed to be challenged."

Lions Matt Dawson and Iain Balshaw have both been named in a powerful England A line-up to tackle their French counterparts at Limoges tomorrow afternoon.

Scrum-half Dawson has made just one comeback appearance since suffering an ankle injury against Glasgow on January 4th.

Balshaw was on the senior bench against Scotland and Ireland, yet has now made way for a fit-again Dan Luger, who will be a replacement when England tackle France in Paris on Saturday.

WALES (v Italy): K Morgan (Swansea); D James (Bridgend), T Shanklin (Saracens), A Marinos (Newport), C Morgan (Cardiff); S Jones (Llanelli), R Howley (Cardiff); I Thomas (Ebbw Vale), R McBryde (Llanelli), C Anthony (Newport), I Gough (Newport), A Moore (Swansea), N Budgett (Bridgend), M Williams (Cardiff), S Quinnell (Llanelli, capt). Replacements: B Williams (Neath), John (Cardiff), Wyatt (Llanelli), Sinkinson (Neath), Peel (Llanelli), Harris, R Williams (both Cardiff).

ENGLAND A (v France A, Limoges, tomorrow): I Balshaw (Bath), M Cueto (Sale), F Waters (Wasps), J Lewsey (Wasps), P Sackey (London Irish), A Goode (Leicester), M Dawson (Northampton), D Flatman (Saracens), M Regan (Bath), J White (Bristol), S Borthwick (Bath, capt), L Deacon (Leicester), D Danaher (London Irish), P Sanderson (Harlequins), A Sanderson (Sale). Replacements (from): C Fortey (Gloucester), S Turner (Sale), T Palmer (Leeds), A Sheridan (Bristol), N Walshe (Saracens), P Jones (Orrell), P Christophers (Bristol), P Buxton (Newport), T Woodman (Gloucester).