Perhaps Sam Burgess genuinely did not know who his opposite number would be in one of the biggest matches of his life in three days’ time. More likely, he was mischievously ratcheting up the tension as the countdown continued.
Either way, as the week builds inexorably to Saturday’s Twickenham showdown with Wales, Burgess was not about to defuse any of the needle building up to a match the significance of which neither camp sees any point in even trying to talk down.
Asked for his reaction to Scott Williams’s suggestion this week that he would rather defend against England’s rugby league convert than the injured Jonathan Joseph, Burgess replied: “Who’s that?” As his questioner explained, he went on: “Oh yes. OK, yes. I’ll just wait and see. I’ll just let my performance do the talking on Saturday.”
When asked if he preferred defending against straight ball-carriers or players of Joseph’s type, the Wales centre had said: “I know which one is a lot harder to defend, Jonathan Joseph. I wouldn’t say I prefer but it’s a bit different.”
The exchange invoked memories of Ben Cohen once replying “Shane Who?” when asked a question about Wales’s record try-scorer Shane Williams. Cohen later insisted he was not being an “arrogant bastard” but merely seeking to differentiate between Shane Williams and Shane Howarth.
Only Burgess can say what he meant by his answer, but the exchange will do little to quell simmering tensions between two squads riven with injury and intrigue before their crucial Pool A encounter.
When Burgess switched from rugby league 10 months ago, not many in the sport would have predicted that he would be starting this match at a rocking Twickenham that is likely to be 75/25 split between English and Welsh fans.
Not many, that is, except the man himself. “Yes, I did. I did imagine it. I had a vision of doing it,” said the Bath player of only his second international start. “I feel comfortable. This was my goal, this was what I wanted to achieve, to be part of this squad. I did.”
If there seemed to be a disconnect between Stuart Lancaster’s rationale for his other changes – that he was relying on those with plenty of experience – and his intuitive insistence that Burgess was the right man at the right time, then the England coach justified his pick based on what he had seen in training.“We don’t have reams of previous international rugby union games he’s played in so we’ve had to judge a lot on training. A lot of people on the outside will probably say: ‘How does that work?’”
In tactical terms, Lancaster’s reasons for choosing Burgess to play between the fly-half Owen Farrell and the outside-centre Brad Barritt in yet another new-look combination comes down to his ability to create the gaps that others can exploit and a belief his side were too “lateral” for long spells against Fiji.
Philosophically, though, his team selection comes down to an even simpler fact – he has gone with those he believes he can trust in the biggest game of his career. Burgess, whom he believes has big-match temperament based on his league experience, is one of those.
“I’ve got to be confident he will defend well. Which I am. I’ve got to be confident that he can deal with the big-game experience and I’m certain of that,” said Lancaster. “I’ve got to be confident he can carry the ball. Get across the gainline and give us front-foot ball. I’m confident he can do that as well. It’s a step for him but I’m 100% certain he’s ready for it.”
If Lancaster has invested his faith and his future in Burgess, then the player himself is unsurprisingly unswerving in his devotion to the coach. The chorus of concern over his rapid elevation does not concern him. “I don’t believe what people say. I believe in Stuart. I believe what he’s picked. My job as a player is to go out and deliver, the job that he’s given me,” he said. “That’s my main focus at the moment. The exterior talk and everything as a group we deal with well. As a group we move on and believe in ourselves.”
The 26-year-old is also keen to emphasise the extent to which he would keep it “as simple as possible”. “I’ve been working extremely hard to develop different areas, which I feel I’ve improved on. Stuart with me has been ‘keep it simple’,” he said. “Use my point of difference – which is sometimes being direct – but then offering a little bit extra at times, when I can.”
There was another curious contrast in the rhetoric espoused by Lancaster and his captain Chris Robshaw – who both spoke about just how deep the scars remain from that 2013 defeat at the Millennium Stadium and the motivational fuel it provided – and the matter-of-fact assessment of Burgess. When Wales recorded that crushing 30-3 Six Nations victory, he was eyeing a Rugby League World Cup.
“I’ve got no experience against Wales. I’ve never played against them before,” he said, nonplussed. “I’ve got none of the scars or bad experiences against them. For me this is a first chance to play against Wales. I’m looking forward to it.”
Which, in a nutshell, both emphasises what an extraordinary leap of faith his elevation is and the self-confidence that hints it just might work.
