It may say something about an increasing interest in all things to do with the Rugby World Cup that reductions of squads by seven have had us all aquiver. Or it may be that August is the silly season. Whichever, the England snip has been made and after all the debates about Sam Burgess representing this mindset in selection, Henry Slade that and Danny Cipriani the other, all Stuart Lancaster has to worry about now is what Luther Burrell’s mother might say to him the next time they meet.
The England coach has had to explain before to Mrs B why her boy did not make a cut. Her Luther may still have a part to play. Injuries there will be and everybody must shrug off their disappointment and join in as if they have never been ushered politely out of the squad room. That little shrug is nevertheless inevitable. To find himself temporarily excluded after being half of the centre combination – Jonathan Joseph being the other – that helped make England the top try-scorers in an eventually festive Six Nations must be a shock. It certainly puts a bit of pressure on the combinations of Joseph-Brad Barritt and Slade-Burgess.
Could all of the “unusual” trio of Burgess, Slade and Cipriani have made the World Cup squad? To have none in the 31 would have been so very dull as to make their inclusion in the original training group a waste of time. One would have been disappointing, three a sign of desperation – that England were looking for something maverick without really knowing how or what. To have chosen two suggests that Lancaster is prepared to be adventurous and has been responsive to form on the field and presence in the camp. It also suggests that he is not entirely happy with the way his Six Nations team have emerged from their summer of toil and preparation for the great next step.
The selection of the midfield (if sweeper Cipriani counts as a midfielder) was rendered more difficult by the failings of the England pack in Paris. The result, nice as it would have been to sneak a win in Paris, was not as important as the performance. This sounds like something straight out of the mouth of Steve Hansen when he was coach of Wales, but since he is now coach of New Zealand, the reigning champions, and is saying the same thing in the run-up to this World Cup, it may be worth bearing in mind. The last thing you want, win, lose or draw, in a series of warm-up games is to let your standards progressively slip.
England’s second string at Twickenham against France set a bar that now looks worryingly high. The pack were guilty of set-piece untidiness but they delivered enough ball for Burgess and Slade – and via them for Jonny May and Anthony Watson – to make their case.
France, for their part, took heart from their togetherness in that first encounter (anything but guaranteed in the past four years) and upped their levels in Paris. At times there the French were exceptionally good, and in the places where it matters – namely, up front. The knock-on effect was to serve Mathieu Bastareaud and Wesley Fofana with a chance to hone their good-cop-bad-cop routine in the centre. Yoann Huget had an even better night on the wing, thanks to his forwards.
England went the other way, untidiness becoming a wholly uncharacteristic breakdown in communication. To be fair, they rallied, but at the end of game two ended up with the same summary as France after one: indomitability on a difficult evening. Such a finding would scarcely have been the surprise to England that it was to France.
The warm-ups have altered the mindset by perhaps a Slade over a Billy Twelvetrees, a Burgess over a Burrell. Maternal indignation aside, it hardly represents a convulsion in English rugby. England’s forwards will be better next time, even if Ireland remain a formidable obstacle. Never let it be said that England took a cautious line when it came to their warm-up opponents – or to their squad of 31. August has been a hard month but September will be all the better for it.
