They said they would open with their strongest lineup, and England have been as good as their word. The team who started the last Test – the final warm-up match against Ireland – will take to the field again when the host nation open the World Cup against Fiji at Twickenham on Friday.
The only change to the squad sees Rob Webber replace Jamie George as Tom Youngs’s understudy at hooker. “It’s great to be able to name an unchanged team,” Stuart Lancaster said.
“On the back of the performance against Ireland, which we were really pleased about. We decided to go with Rob at hooker for his greater experience at scrum time. It’s the strongest team we have for this game. We’ll worry about Wales and Australia later. There’s a big threat facing us on Friday night. Looking at the rankings, Fiji are ahead of Scotland, just behind Argentina.”
Ben Morgan completes his impressive recovery from a broken leg in January to confirm his place as England’s first-choice No8, forcing the Six Nations incumbent, Billy Vunipola, to the bench. Geoff Parling retains his place, breaking up the second-row pairing of Courtney Lawes and Joe Launchbury that had seemed Lancaster’s favourite. Launchbury, himself a recent returnee from injury, will be on the bench.
Ben Youngs remains first choice at scrum-half and will win his 50th cap, while the kicking game of Richard Wigglesworth has usurped Danny Care’s more quicksilver approach as back-up on the bench. Alongside him will be Sam Burgess, who has earned the nod to cover England’s outside backs ahead of options such as Alex Goode, Henry Slade and Jack Nowell, with Jonathan Joseph and Brad Barritt paired in midfield once more.
“It was a tough call. We want to use our bench to make an impact, and we think Sam can do that. We think it’s a positive selection step,” Lancaster said. “When we brought some guys on after 50 or 60 minutes against Ireland, they showed that they’re a handful.”
The head coach has given notice the squad are likely to be adjusted as the next three games unfold but only as tweaks for the sake of freshness, rather than significant overhauls. Unless, of course, events challenge his conviction this is England’s strongest side.
England v Fiji Brown (Harlequins); Watson (Bath), Joseph (Bath), Barritt (Saracens), May (Gloucester); Ford (Bath), B Youngs (Leicester); Marler (Harlequins), T Youngs (Leicester), Cole (Leicester), Parling (Exeter Chiefs), Lawes (Northampton), Wood (Northampton), Robshaw (Harlequins, capt), Morgan (Gloucester).
Replacements Webber (Bath), M Vunipola (Saracens), Brookes (Northampton), Launchbury (Wasps), B Vunipola (Saracens), Wigglesworth (Saracens), Farrell (Saracens), Burgess (Bath)
