Olly Barkley headed for Paris last night ready to face the biggest test of his fledgling international career.

Barely 24 hours after being dropped, Barkley was handed England's fly-half jersey, drafted in to replace Paul Grayson, who has failed a fitness test on the calf muscle strain that also meant he missed England's 31-21 victory over Wales on Saturday.

He was originally injured during an England training session early last week.

England head coach Sir Clive Woodward named Grayson in the starting XV for Saturday's RBS 6 Nations title showdown with France, axing Barkley despite his 16-point performance against Wales.

But in a rapid reversal of fortunes, 22-year-old Barkley is now back, winning a fifth England cap.

''Clive told me yesterday there was every chance I would be starting,'' said Barkley.

''I'm disappointed for Paul, but delighted to be starting, especially with the advantage of having plenty of time to prepare for the match, where I hope to improve further on my performance last Saturday.''

Woodward said: ''Paul has made encouraging progress following the injury last week, but we always knew the timescale was going to be very tight for him to achieve full fitness for this Saturday's game in Paris.

''Unlike last week, it's important we make the change early to allow Olly the maximum time to prepare.

''Olly played very well in his first major Test match at the weekend and we are very excited about seeing him step up to the plate once again against France on Saturday night, hence the early decision.

''Paul Grayson is a player that rarely gets injured, and he has not been injured all season.

''He just had a slight calf strain last week and we thought it was very minor, but it doesn't seem to go away.

''Barkley will now step up, which I am fine about because it was a close call anyway. I think it was right to go with Grayson in terms of his experience for this game, but it was not to be, and I am very happy to go with Barkley.

''It brings a left-footed kicking option, and balances up the side even better.''

England skipper Lawrence Dallaglio last night claimed that an intense Six Nations fixture schedule was bound to test squad resources.

''We used 36 players in last year's Six Nations, so we are doing reasonably well by those standards,'' he said.