Sam Burgess will make his England rugby union debut against France on Saturday but has been told he will not be given a “free pass” into next month’s World Cup. The head coach, Stuart Lancaster, says the 26-year-old still needs to prove he can take the “next step” and become a Test-class centre and is competing with Exeter’s Henry Slade for one midfield slot.
The former South Sydney Rabbitoh is one of four uncapped players in England’s matchday squad alongside Northampton’s Calum Clark and the Exeter duo of Slade and Luke Cowan-Dickie, but Lancaster insists he has not yet reached a final decision on the last few members of his 31-man squad, due to be announced in just over a fortnight. “I’m open minded,” said Lancaster, adding he had no intention of picking Burgess and Slade for the tournament.
“I’m not going to prejudge selection but [picking both] would be a big step. What happens in the next two weeks will finalise the decision. Sam’s not got a free pass into the team because we’ve got other guys like Billy Twelvetrees and Luther Burrell who have done well.”
With Jonathan Joseph, Brad Barritt and, almost certainly, Burrell in line to fill three of the four centre positions, much will depend on how Burgess performs alongside Slade on Saturday. Given he is now seen as a flanker by Bath, it is a measure of the physicality gap left by Manu Tuilagi’s absence that he is even a midfield contender. “I do think the longer Sam plays the game and the more opportunities we give him, the better he’ll become,” Lancaster added. “This is the next step: to see if he can make the step to becoming an international player.”
It is a telling indicator of England’s continuing quest for a more stable midfield balance that three games before hosting a World Cup, they now have another novice centre pairing without one union cap between them. Even Tom Wood, named captain in place of the regular leader Chris Robshaw, acknowledges there will be little margin for error. “For some people it’s a final,” said Wood, who led England in Argentina in 2013. “It’s up to these guys to come and knock the door down.
“There will be World Cup places up for grabs, everything on the line. If you don’t play well, you’re going home. That is the reality so it will be full on.”
The 21-year-old Slade, an excellent distributor with a sweet left boot, offers a range of skills and can operate at either 10, 12 or 13. England would love to utilise Burgess’s big-match temperament and inner steel but that plan will be complicated if Slade impresses against the French.
It is also a big weekend for Ben Morgan, the Gloucester No8, as he strives to prove his match fitness in his first competitive game since breaking a leg in January. Clark, 26, starts alongside him in the back-row after three and a half years as an uncapped squad member.
England team to face France on Saturday
Goode (Saracens); Watson (Bath), Slade (Exeter Chiefs), Burgess (Bath), May (Gloucester); Farrell (Saracens), Wigglesworth (Saracens); M Vunipola (Saracens), Webber (Bath), Brookes (Northampton), Kruis (Saracens), Parling (Exeter Chiefs), Wood (Northampton, capt), Clark (Northampton), Morgan (Gloucester).
Replacements: Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs), Corbisiero (Northampton), Wilson (Bath), Attwood (Bath), Haskell (Wasps), Care (Harlequins), Cipriani (Sale Sharks), Twelvetrees (Gloucester).
