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Wednesday, November 05, 2008, 17:26
Mears saw off the challenge of Northampton's Dylan Hartley to land the number two jersey for England's clash with the Pacific Islanders at Twickenham on Saturday (2.30pm) – the opening game of England's four-Test autumn series.
His selection marks him as the country's first-choice hooker, while Stevens' displays for Bath this season mean he starts at tighthead prop, keeping World Cup winner Phil Vickery on the bench.
Bath team captain Michael Lipman, who joined the pair in the Elite Player Squad last month, will also be among the replacements, with Johnson opting for Wasps' Tom Rees at openside flanker.
"Mears and Stevens have been great for the club and it's no surprise at all to see them in the team," said Bath head coach Meehan.
"Lee Mears has only been the first-choice hooker at Bath for the last few seasons and has progressed up the England ranks at the same time.
"It's a reward for his hard graft and self-belief that he's now in the position he's in – and he's got a good few years left in him as well.
"Lipman's come in from the Saxons only recently, so him being on the bench was probably to be expected with Rees already in the squad.
"Hopefully all three will go out and do well on Saturday."
Bath would almost certainly have had three players in the England XV for Saturday's clash at Twickenham (2.30pm) had Nick Abendanon not been forced to withdraw from the squad last Wednesday due to an injured big toe.
The injury saw the young full-back ruled out of the dates with the Pacific Islanders and Australia, on Saturday week, and Meehan believes he now has only an outside chance of adding to his two international caps this autumn.
He said: "Nick would have started, I'm sure, and I'm very disappointed for him.
"But he's 22, is playing better rugby this year than he did last and there's more improvement left in him.
"There are a lot more opportunities with England for Nick, that's for sure.
"If he doesn't play for us against Leicester (on Saturday week) then he should play against Northampton (on November 22)," Meehan added.
"My understanding is they'd (England) want to see him prove his fitness in a Premiership hit-out – it would be a courageous selection to call him up before he's done that."
England will be led by former Bath skipper Steve Borthwick and the XV contains four uncapped players – full-back Delon Armitage, wing Ugo Monye, centre Riki Flutey and lock Nick Kennedy.
Although matches against the Tri-Nations heavyweights loom large on the horizon, Mears has warned his team-mates to beware the threat posed by the Pacific Islanders this weekend.
The Bath forward said: "You look at the quality they've got in their team, some of the boys they've got playing in the Premiership at the moment are on fire. It's going to be a very interesting afternoon.
"They love to play rugby and from what we've seen, they are definitely going to attack.
"For us it's about outscoring them and trying to hold them in defence.
"They're really tough, I mean (Aleki) Latui is a stalwart, really strong and a big ball carrier. Then obviously Census Johnston is another big name from Saracens, someone we meet week-in week-out."
However, Mears is excited by the line-up unveiled by Johnson on Tuesday.
He said: "We've got some raw pace out there in the backs and the boys that are coming through, the Danny Cares and Ciprianis, they really want to play a nice style of rugby so if we can front up and give them some good ball on the front foot, then hopefully they will cause havoc."
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