England’s Sam Burgess during training at the Pennyhill Park Hotel, Bagshot, Surrey & Twickenham Stadium, London, yesterday.
The Guardian/London
Sam Burgess will make his international rugby union debut just 10 months after his league career ended with a fractured cheekbone and a NRL grand final winners’ medal, having been named as one of three debutants for England’s first World Cup warm-up match against France on Saturday.
Burgess lines up at inside centre - despite the most productive of his 17 Bath appearances coming at flanker - and partners Henry Slade, another of the three rookies, in midfield while Stuart Lancaster also hands a first cap to the Northampton flanker Calum Clark.
It represents a remarkable rise for Burgess, one of six centres vying for four spaces in England’s 31-man World Cup squad , but Lancaster is adamant the 26-year-old’s form in training has warranted the chance to stake his claim.
“I’m open minded - this is the team to look at options for us,” he said. “What I’ve said all along is that we need a balance in our backline, a balance of ball players, carriers and finishers. Sam ticks the ball carriers.
“And obvious there’s the physical nature of backlines and you need to look at that element, particularly defensively. If you were playing against New Zealand with Nonu and Savea lined up against you, or Kuridrani, Roberts or North, you need that balance.
“It’s an option for us to look at and it will be interesting to see how well it goes. There are still six centres left and there are three centres - Barritt, Burrell and Joseph - not playing this weekend, so the slots available are getting narrow.
“He’s up against two other good players as well, but it’s actually about what’s right for the team. We’ll see if he can translate what he’s doing in training, which is clearly good otherwise I wouldn’t have taken this chance to look at him against France. We’ll see how he goes.”
Ben Morgan plays his first competitive rugby since breaking a leg in action for Gloucester in January, lining up at No8 while Tom Wood completes the back row and captains the side on his 37th appearance, having also done so on the 2013 summer tour to Argentina.
Owen Farrell, another who missed the Six Nations through injury, gets the nod at fly-half, leaving Danny Cipriani to settle for a place on the bench where he joins Luke Cowan-Dickie, the 22-year-old hooker who will also win his first cap should he come on.
Farrell’s Saracens team-mates Richard Wigglesworth and Alex Goode line up at scrum-half and fly-half respectively while Anthony Watson and Jonny May, singled out by Lancaster for praise last week, are on the wings.
Despite seven players being sent home from the training squad last week the front row remains fiercely competitive - as demonstrated by the presence of Alex Corbisiero and Davy Wilson on the bench with Mako Vunipola and Kieran Brookes selected at loosehead and tighthead respectively. Rob Webber, out of form for Bath towards the end of last season but more experienced than Cowan-Dickie and the omitted Jamie George, gets his chance at hooker while George Kruis and Geoff Parling combine in the second row. Dave Attwood and James Haskell provide forwards cover while Danny Care and Billy Twelvetrees will also hope to impress from the bench.
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). (The Guardian)