Stuart Lancaster mused at the start of the week that there was much for the England management to discuss. Friday’s pruning of the 46-strong squad will have taken less time than the debate later this month about who should make the 31 for the World Cup.
The first cull will include players who are some way from first choice in their positions: the prop Matt Mullan, the scrum-half Lee Dickson, the flanker Matt Kvesic, the wing Semesa Rokoduguni and the centre Kyle Eastmond. Chris Ashton, a member of the 2011 World Cup squad who did not feature for England last season, is also vulnerable, along with Billy Twelvetrees, Calum Clark and Nick Easter, who missed the training camp in Denver last month because of a back injury.
The tougher calls will come after the two warm-up matches against France, the first at Twickenham on Saturday week. Will the big-occasion experience of Sam Burgess, albeit in a different sport, trump his novice status in union? Will Danny Cipriani, no longer the enfant terrible of the English game, make the 31 as a third fly-half given the belief of many that a pool that includes Australia and Wales, who finished third and fourth respectively in the last World Cup, may come down to points difference which would mean feasting on Fiji and Uruguay?
Will Jamie George and Luke Cowan-Dickie, two uncapped hookers who impressed at club level last season and in the England camp last month, both survive at the expense of the more experienced Rob Webber? Should the split between backs and forwards be 18-13 or 17-14? Will there be room for the youthful promise of Henry Slade in the midfield?
“We are a long way from naming the 31 and there are a number of discussions to be had,” said Lancaster. “As a management, we all have our different opinions but it is rare that we are on a different page. Ultimately it will come down to my decision and we will all back that. We want to look at some options during the first game against France and that will inform our decisions because the majority of that side will be in the World Cup squad. The centre positions, for example, will take a while to play out and the matches will help us. Henry has looked comfortable in our environment: he is going to be in the mix but it will be a tight call.”
Lancaster said it was possible he would include three fly-halves in the 31. George Ford and Owen Farrell are some way ahead of Cipriani, whose inclusion would probably come at the expense of Alex Goode, a full-back who has experience of playing at No10 rather than the other way around.
“You would need one of your outside-halves to be able to play in different positions,” Lancaster said. “Picking three would probably leave you with one specialist full-back and you’d run the risk of him falling over in the week of a game. It’s not inconceivable it could happen and New Zealand offer an example.”
Mark Cueto, a former team-mate of Cipriani’s at Sale who was on the wing for England in the 2007 World Cup final against South Africa, believes three fly-halves would not make a crowd. “I’d love to see Danny play because he can change a game,” he said. “If he has a part to play in the World Cup I think, unfortunately for him, it will be coming off the bench and there is room for him as a utility back. I have seen him do things with a rugby ball that I have not from anyone else in 15 years as a professional player and if you need five points with 10 minutes to go, there is no one better to have than him.”
