As soon as Stuart Lancaster revealed changes will be made to England’s starting XV to face Wales one name stood out from the crowd. Sam Burgess, with only one competitive Test appearance under his belt, is now firmly in contention to start Saturday’s colossal clash at Twickenham.
Still in the early stages of his rugby union education but with a presence unmatched in England’s squad, Burgess brought dynamism to Lancaster’s side in his 19 minutes against Fiji – thundering into contact and adding direction that had been lacking. Furthermore Brad Barritt endured an off-colour night at inside-centre and will be relying on past glories to keep his place.
It would be a bold call from Lancaster, who will reveal his team on Thursday, but would not require justification, according to Owen Farrell, another who made a positive impact from the bench on Friday and who is breathing down the neck of the incumbent fly-half, George Ford.
“That’s why he’s here. He wouldn’t have been picked otherwise. Sam’s a brilliant rugby player. He’s a leader in the team and I am sure he would be massively confident as well,” said Farrell. “It’s not something that anybody’s hiding, is it? He’s played well all year for Bath.. He’s gone well in all the games he has played in the warm-ups. We have trained a fair bit together. It is just getting familiar to the people around you.”
Mike Catt, England’s attacking skills coach, was similarly forthright: “I don’t understand why Sam has to justify anything. We’ve known what Sam brings, what Brad brings, what everybody in the squad brings. We’ve backed Sam and Sam’s done his job [on Saturday]. We know he’s a big-game player. He’s a great competitor but so are the other guys around him.”
Burgess was not alone in impressing during an England performance that lacked polish on Friday, even if mission was accomplished with Billy Vunipola’s late bonus-point try. Both Vunipolas, the scrum-half Richard Wigglesworth and Farrell enhanced their claims to start against Wales and reinforced the depth available to England while their opponents on Saturday endured further injury scares to the full-back Liam Williams, Dan Lydiate, the centre Cory Allen and the prop Paul James in coasting past Uruguay.
Farrell has enjoyed memorable highs against Wales, coming off the bench in Cardiff earlier this year and orchestrating the 2014 Twickenham win, but he was also fly-half when Warren Gatland’s side trounced England 30-3 at the Millennium Stadium in 2012.
He knows Gatland well, having been part of the Lions tour in 2013, and is expecting the unexpected. “I am sure they will have something up their sleeve. They have had however long to prepare as we have. I don’t think they will change how they play,” he said.
“They have played that way for how many years now and they are not going to suddenly get to two weeks before a World Cup and think, ‘We have lost a couple of players. We need to change what we do.’
“We need to play the way that we play and make good decisions. That is what we base ourselves on, what is in front of us. Wales are obviously a team that like to play rugby in your half and put as many people as possible in the front line and get off the line and put pressure on you.”
Despite Wales’s injury problems, Gatland will call on reinforcements to face England in the form of George North, Alun Wyn Jones and Jamie Roberts while he was relieved to see the tighthead Samson Lee come through 40 minutes unscathed against Uruguay, not least after watching England’s scrum, traditionally their strength under Lancaster, struggle against Fiji. The set-piece problems are of growing concern as the chinks started appearing in the warm-up defeat by France and continued against Ireland but Farrell expects the forwards to deliver against Wales. “We back ourselves up front against anybody,” he said. “These are the games that you love playing in – the physical challenges and you know I am sure that we will build it up nicely this week and make sure that we are ready for it.
“I think it still will be a strength in this tournament. I don’t know what went on and why things happened during that game but I know everyone here will work as hard as they possibly can do to make sure it is in the best place possible for us to go forward.
“The lads are international rugby players who were playing at the highest level. They are going to work hard this week to get better and, if there are things to fix, fix.”
