Stuart Lancaster freely admits one position above all others is preoccupying him as he finalises his World Cup selection plans. The perfect blend at centre is continuing to prove elusive and the news that Brad Barritt is nursing a tight calf has added a fresh twist to Saturday’s penultimate pre-World Cup tango against France.
Barritt’s injury is not thought to be serious but it does give Lancaster some timely leeway as he seeks to identify, once and for all, his optimum balance before confirming his 31-man squad late next week. In particular it leaves the way clear for Northampton’s Luther Burrell to partner Jonathan Joseph in Paris as he jostles with Henry Slade, Sam Burgess and Billy Twelvetrees for two midfield places.
Lancaster is due to announce his team and bench on Tuesday but he concedes the performances of Slade and Burgess at Twickenham have “complicated” the backline equation. “Selection will be difficult because I’m aware other guys need to play as well,” the head coach said. “When you have 39 players and 23 places you can’t give everyone a chance. They’ve all got their own attributes; it’s just getting the right pieces of the jigsaw together. I think this game will help us formulate that.”
On the face of it the straightforward decision would be to pick Burgess on the bench to allow him and Burrell 40 minutes apiece alongside Joseph, already inked in as England’s World Cup No13. But that would effectively signal the end of Twelvetrees’ chances and Lancaster floated the idea the final choice could yet boil down to how the assorted contenders go in training back in Bagshot next week. “If there are decisions which go down to the wire, then Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday next week will probably decide it,” he said. “When we play 15 on 15 it is not far off a game anyway. It would be nice to have a few more warm-up games before we make the final decision but we don’t.”
The merest suggestion Lancaster might make training-ground form a priority rather than matchday performance underlines just how tortuous England’s search for a settled midfield pairing has become. Even before injury and, subsequently, suspension removed Manu Tuilagi from contention there has not been a really settled combination since Will Greenwood and Mike Tindall were in their pomp.
Time is also running out for Danny Cipriani who had virtually no chance to advance his claims in the final quarter of Saturday’s 19-14 win over France. With Alex Goode impressing at full-back, Cipriani may have to settle for a standby berth but the Sale Sharks fly-half is refusing to concede defeat. “I do hope for another chance,” he said. “It’s frustrating not to have had as much involvement as you’d like but that is the game of rugby.”
Up front, opportunity is about to knock for the uncapped Saracens hooker Jamie George. England’s review of the France game inevitably highlighted the problems they ran into at the lineout where the debutant Luke Cowan-Dickie struggled to find his jumpers consistently. “It is a critical area … we didn’t deliver enough quality set-piece ball, whether it be from the scrum or the lineout,” Lancaster said.
“When we got some decent ball we scored some good tries and created some good shape in attack but the lineout clearly didn’t go as well as we hoped. Jamie’s got a great opportunity. We need to throw him in there and see how he gets on.”
There is still the theoretical possibility of Dylan Hartley, suspended for butting George at the end of last season, rejoining the squad but Lancaster emphasised that could happen only through injury to one of the incumbents. All three hookers are fine but Alex Corbisiero is suffering from sciatic pain and Kieran Brookes is nursing a sore wrist after it was stamped on in the France game.
Neither prop is a major concern and the management also hope the fit-again No8 Ben Morgan will be back at full bore for the Ireland game on 5 September, with England’s management demanding more forward oomph in Paris. “We lost the power game a little bit in the second half,” acknowledged Lancaster. “When you look at the pack we’ll have out this time there’s a bit more size and power to it. We’ll be able to match teams on the power front going into the World Cup.”
Probable England starting XV (v France, Paris, Saturday): Brown (Harlequins); Nowell (Exeter), Joseph (Bath), Burrell (Northampton), May (Gloucester); Ford (Bath), B Youngs (Leicester); Marler (Harlequins), T Youngs (Leicester), Cole (Leicester), Lawes (Northampton), Launchbury (Wasps), Haskell (Wasps), Robshaw (Harlequins, capt), B Vunipola (Saracens).
