Stuart Lancaster will consider shuffling his England side for the World Cup game against Wales after six second-half substitutions helped his side over the line against Fiji. “We’ve never said we were going to pick the same team week in, week out,” said the head coach in the wake of England’s often scrappy 35-11 victory at Twickenham.
“We select it on a week by week basis, assess the performance and decide what’s best to play Wales. We know them pretty well, we know the quality of the players they’ve got in their team, and how well Warren Gatland and Shaun Edwards and these guys will have them prepared to play us.”
As England’s advantage narrowed to seven points in mounting tension in the second half of the Pool A opener, Joe Launchbury, Mako and Billy Vunipola, and Richard Wigglesworth entered the fray early in the second half. They were followed by Owen Farrell’s introduction for George Ford and Sam Burgess, the former rugby league player who received one of the biggest cheers of the night when he came on for Brad Barrit.
“He was part of a collective impact that the bench made. Sam did well but equally Mako and Billy Vunipola did well, Owen did well, Wiggy did well at the breakdown, Launchbury had an excellent 25 minutes as well. It was a collective.”
Lancaster said he would pick his team on Monday or Tuesday after watching Wales play Uruguay on Sunday.
The England coach said that his players appeared nervous and tight as the margin of their lead narrowed and it could have been worse still if Fiji had kicked more accurately. He said: “We needed some energy from the bench. Fiji went hard at the breakdown in the last 20 minutes, made it very difficult for us and we didn’t get the result we could have done in terms of penalties. Overall we’ve got to deal with that better. If you win the collisions, you get quicker ball, as we showed in that last 20 minutes.”
England have no injury concerns and Lancaster said they would have to play a more direct game to overcome familiar opponents. “I think we know each other pretty well. They will be well prepared,” he said. “Equally I am sure both teams will have something up their sleeves. But it is about us really. We have got to get ourselves ready.”
Lancaster said that he expected the intensity of the crowd to rise another notch against Wales. “I thought Twickenham was unbelievable in the energy it gave us. I have never heard the anthem sung so loud and I have never heard the team be cheered so passionately,” he said. “But that was just the start. This game against Wales is going to be another level again.”
Billy Vunipola, whose late try ensured England notched up a bonus point that could be crucial in the final reckoning after what admitted was a “nervy and scrappy” affair, said home advantage would be crucial. “We have to be careful and do everything right both physically and mentally. You don’t feel the nerves or what the World Cup means to you until you step out onto the pitch,” he said.
“All the expectations then come crashing down on you. We know we must improve to beat Wales and we will be working hard in training to do that.”
Vunipola, left out of the starting lineup, said he used the disappointment as motivation. “I wanted to prove a point when I came on because all the week in training I have been chomping at the bit to get my opportunity,” he said. “You do get frustrated but if I am sitting there sulking and giving up bad body language to the other players then I am not doing my bit to help the squad.”
