Sam Burgess, parachuted into the England team for their key clash with Wales on Saturday, has ratcheted up the tension between the sides by appearing to mischievously ask who his opposite number Scott Williams was.
After the England coach Stuart Lancaster confirmed the rugby league convert would start at centre, Burgess was asked about a comment from Williams earlier this week in which he suggested he would find it easier to defend against him than the injured Jonathan Joseph.
“Who’s that?” replied Burgess, who was effective as a substitute against Fiji and will now start at Twickenham only 10 months after switching codes. It was impossible to know whether Burgess was joking, genuinely did not know or had misheard. His inflection suggested the first of those. Either way, he soon became the target of ire for Welsh fans on social media.
As his questioner explained, he added: “Oh yes. OK, yes. I’ll just wait and see. I’ll just let my performance do the talking on Saturday.”
Williams had been asked earlier this week whether he found it easier to defend against direct players like Burgess. “I know which one is a lot harder to defend, Jonathan Joseph. I wouldn’t say I prefer it but it’s a bit different,” he said.
Asked about Burgess’s comments, the Wales captain Sam Warburton offered up a diplomatic response.
“I don’t blame Sam Burgess for that,” he said. “When I play against teams there are times when I don’t know who each of the opposition are. I can’t dictate what guys like Chris Robshaw are going to do on Saturday.”
Both Burgess and Lancaster insisted they had no concerns over the Bath player’s lack of experience as he starts only his second international in place of Joseph.
Lancaster has made four changes from last weekend, including the introduction of Owen Farrell for George Ford at No10. The new-look lineup is Lancaster’s 14th centre pairing in four years. The coach admitted his decisions, which have been questioned by former players including Will Carling, had “clearly” heightened the stakes before two matches against Wales and Australia that could define his tenure.
“If we win the game it will be judged a success, if we lose the game regardless of what selection I made, you’d all be questioning the selection I’d made,” said Lancaster, whose contract runs until 2019. “It will come down ultimately to the next two games. I understand the consequences and the stakes because it’s the World Cup.”
Lancaster has come under fire, first for selecting Burgess in his 31-man squad and now for giving him a starting berth, and for appearing to switch horses from Ford to Farrell.
The Bath coach Mike Ford, George’s father, has called the decision to drop his son “mystifying”. Lancaster said criticism came with the territory but called on all concerned to now get behind the team.
“I haven’t been insulted at all. 100%, people are entitled to their opinion and I’m not surprised as people care about an England team being successful.,” he said. “Equally people underestimate the trust we have in the players. We trust George and equally we have another guy who we have a lot of trust in and credit for what he’s achieved.
“What would be good is if people got behind the selection. I appreciate there will always be debate and this is what happened in the 31-man training squad when that was announced. We need England behind this team – one to 23 – as it’s massive.”
Lancaster insisted there was “definitely no panic” over his decision to drop Ford, who became a key man during the Six Nations campaign, in favour of Farrell after only one match.
“We are fortunate to have two high quality players in that position. Since the Premiership final where Owen was man-of-the-match he has been pushing hard in training,” he said.
“I thought he played very well in the first warm-up game against France and his contribution off the bench against Ireland was great. He has pushed George hard and it’s the right time to start him in a big game like this.”
