And then there were 39. The game of musical chairs that is England’s World Cup squad selection still has some twists to come but Stuart Lancaster’s eventual 31-man squad is finally taking shape. While eight further players will be nudged aside at the month’s end, there is now a far more definite sense of where Lancaster is heading.
In dispensing with seven members of his wider training squad – Chris Ashton, Marland Yarde, Semesa Rokoduguni, Kyle Eastmond, Lee Dickson, Matt Kvesic and Matt Mullan – the head coach has removed any semblance of doubt in at least two positions. Barring injury – a phrase we are destined to hear endlessly in the next six weeks – his World Cup choices at scrum-half and wing are now locked in.
Contrary to some reports, however, a fit-again Nick Easter and the Saracens lock George Kruis have both survived for now, and Lancaster is not entirely slamming the door closed. “It has been difficult to narrow down the squad as everyone has given their all,” he said. “But what I have said to those guys who are not coming back in on Sunday is that the door is not closed by any means. They are only an injury away and there is a lot of international rugby to be played this season. Both Nick Easter and Ben Morgan are now fit and we want to give them opportunities to train fully and prove their form and fitness next week.”
Behind the scrum, 11 of the backs now look certainties but the name of Billy Twelvetrees is suddenly back in the hat and both Sam Burgess and Danny Cipriani, as expected, also remain. The final blend, ultimately, boils down as much to how England intend to play as to certain individuals. To top their pool ahead of Wales and Australia they are going to need hard-headed competitors, not mercurial sorts. In the knockout stages, assuming they make it, the same will apply with knobs on. Lancaster will be particularly drawn to temperament and reliability under pressure, one suspects, more than most other qualities. That should be good news for someone like Alex Goode, unless Lancaster decides the electric Anthony Watson can already be backed to cover full-back in a critical World Cup fixture and takes the bold step of omitting the composed Saracen to make room for Danny Cipriani’s X-factor instead.
It also potentially improves the chances of Burgess, who could never be accused of lacking a big match temperament. Two centres will have to be picked from four remaining candidates – Burgess, Luther Burrell, Twelvetrees and Henry Slade – and the forthcoming home and away Tests against France will now resolve that equation. Burgess and Burrell possess the greater physicality but it is hard to imagine the two Yorkshiremen dovetailing smoothly at the highest level. Ditto the versatile duo of Twelvetrees and Slade, both talented distributors rather than direct midfield runners. The obvious solution is to pick and mix from the two pairs, leaving Burgess and Burrell effectively competing for one place.
It is for that reason that Burgess and Slade can expect to be paired together this month to discover whether their lack of union Test experience is a serious issue. There remains the small matter of Bath’s preference for Burgess as a flanker but, at this stage, the big man appears to be in no mood to worry about the number on the back of his jersey.
Despite his insistence it was not a question of picking either himself or Eastmond that is precisely what has happened, England having taken the view the latter may not be the ideal man to stop the likes of Jamie Roberts and Matt Toomua in their tracks. The flip side is that some opposing defenders will breathe a sigh of relief; given any kind of space, and with Jonathan Joseph outside him, Eastmond has a quicksilver acceleration that Burgess can only dream about.
Ashton’s try-snaffling ability has also been deemed insufficient when it came down to it selection-wise. He joins a lengthening list of disappointed wannabes. Dylan Hartley and Manu Tuilagi may have ruled themselves out unnecessarily while Tom Croft, Ben Foden and Joe Simpson have had no luck with injury, but plenty of teams around the world would love to have had Eastmond, Yarde, Rokoduguni, Ashton, Mullan, Christian Wade, Maro Itoje and Elliot Daly at their disposal.
In the six weeks before England play Fiji in the opening game, consequently, it is up to Lancaster’s chosen few to repay their master’s faith. Morgan needs to prove his fitness definitively – so may France’s captain Thierry Dusautoir, who has banged a knee in training – while David Wilson has to fend off the challenge of Kieran Brookes. The luxury of time for endless ifs, buts and maybes will soon be gone.
England’s 39-man squad (for first two warm-up games v France)
Full-backs: Brown (Harlequins), Goode (Saracens)
Wings: Nowell (Exeter), May (Gloucester), Watson (Bath)
Centres: Joseph (Bath), Barritt (Saracens), Slade (Exeter), Burrell (Northampton), Twelvetrees (Gloucester), Burgess (Bath)
Fly-halves: Ford (Bath), Farrell (Saracens), Cipriani (Sale)
Scrum-halves: B Youngs (Leicester), Care (Harlequins), Wigglesworth (Saracens)
Hookers: T Youngs (Leicester), Webber (Bath), Cowan-Dickie (Exeter), George (Saracens)
Loose-heads: Marler (Harlequins), Corbisiero (Northampton), M Vunipola (Saracens)
Tight-heads: Cole (Leicester), Wilson (Bath), Brookes (Northampton)
Locks: Lawes (Northampton), Launchbury (Wasps), Parling (Exeter Chiefs), Attwood (Bath), Kruis (Saracens)
Flankers: Haskell (Wasps), Robshaw (Harlequins), Wood (Northampton), Clark (Northampton)
No 8s: Morgan (Gloucester), Easter (Harlequins), B Vunipola (Saracens)
