England’s Sam Burgess during training at the Twickenham Stadium in London yesterday.
AFP/London
Former rugby league star Sam Burgess will make a high-profile England debut on a weekend of World Cup warm-up clashes.
Burgess, who only switched codes at the beginning of last season, will line up at centre in Stuart Lancaster’s experimental England team for France’s visit to Twickenham today.
Three players will make their debuts—including centre Henry Slade and flanker Callum Clark—as Lancaster opts for the same approach to the pre-tournament matches as Ireland and Wales a week earlier.
Wales coach Warren Gatland picked four uncapped players in his starting line-up while two more joined the fray off the bench as a second-string Ireland ran out comfortable 35-21 winners in Cardiff.
Burgess’s England debut has been eagerly awaited in the build-up to the World Cup, which begins on September 18.
The 26-year-old was a star in league and won the NRL with South Sydney Rabbitohs in his final match, both for the club and in the 13-man code, before moving to Bath in the English 15-man Premiership.
However, having started out as a centre in coach Mike Ford’s outfit he was eventually switched to flanker, making his selection in the midfield at Twickenham all the more curious.
“It’s about what’s right for the team. We’ll see if he can translate what he does in training and see how it goes,” said Lancaster.
Just as was the case at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium last weekend, Lancaster appears to have picked a team for France’s visit that to some degree is playing for its places in his final 31-man squad.
Uncapped hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie is even amongst the replacements.
“The following week we’ll probably change a lot,” added Lancaster.
All Blacks, Springboks eye revenge
France coach Philippe Saint-Andre may also choose to have a look at fringe players but it will be a very different story in the southern hemisphere.
New Zealand host Australia in Auckland with revenge on their minds and the Bledisloe Cup to play for.
Australia beat the All Blacks 27-19 in Sydney last weekend to win their first Rugby Championship crown since 2011 and will win the Bledisloe Cup for the first time since 2002 if they can win, draw or avoid a defeat by eight or more points.
The Blacks will likely be without centre Sonny Bill Williams, who injured his tailbone in last weekend’s defeat.
“He landed on his rear end... got a knock on the buttock and that’s tightened up so we’ll have to see how he goes,” said coach Steve Hansen, whose team will be boosted by the return of Ma’a Nonu.
Ben Smith is also fit despite suffering concussion in unsuccessfully trying to prevent Adam Ashley-Cooper scoring a try in Sydney.
It’s the All Blacks’ final game before the World Cup while the Wallabies will play just one other, against the US.
South Africa also play their last match before the World Cup as they travel to Buenos Aires on a revenge mission against Argentina.
The Pumas beat the Springboks for the first time last weekend in a shock 37-25 victory in Durban.
It was Argentina’s first away win in the Rugby Championship and the first time they avoided finishing bottom.
But the Boks, whose coach Heyneke Meyer accused his team of letting down the nation after three defeats in a row, need a morale-boosting victory before heading to England.
They will have to do without captain Jean de Villiers, who has a broken jaw, flanker Marcell Coetzee (knee) and full-back Willie le Roux (ankle), who are all injured.
In other games, Ireland will host Scotland looking to kick-on from their strong season in which they retained the Six Nations and moved up to second in the world rankings behind New Zealand following last weekend’s win in Cardiff.
Japan play a World XV while things kick-off on Friday night as Romania play Yorkshire Carnegie.
