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| England’s Owen Farrell will be switched to play at centre against Samoa | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| England are set to throw Owen Farrell the No12 jersey against Samoa as they seek to extricate themselves from the autumn quicksands into which they have stumbled over the past fortnight. | England are set to throw Owen Farrell the No12 jersey against Samoa as they seek to extricate themselves from the autumn quicksands into which they have stumbled over the past fortnight. |
| George Ford is poised to start at fly-half but injuries to two more midfield contenders appear likely to earn Farrell a starting reprieve for Saturday’s floodlit fixture. | George Ford is poised to start at fly-half but injuries to two more midfield contenders appear likely to earn Farrell a starting reprieve for Saturday’s floodlit fixture. |
| With Kyle Eastmond receiving treatment for concussion and Billy Twelvetrees having hurt an ankle playing for Gloucester last Friday, the option of starting Ford and Farrell together is one the management have always been keen to explore. Northampton’s Luther Burrell is back in the squad having recovered from a hand injury but is short of recent game time. | With Kyle Eastmond receiving treatment for concussion and Billy Twelvetrees having hurt an ankle playing for Gloucester last Friday, the option of starting Ford and Farrell together is one the management have always been keen to explore. Northampton’s Luther Burrell is back in the squad having recovered from a hand injury but is short of recent game time. |
| Farrell’s excellent goal-kicking also continues to count in his favour, despite his below-par performance at 10 in Saturday’s 31-28 defeat by South Africa. Eastmond will be unable to train until Friday at the earliest after taking a knock to the head in the closing moments of the Springbok game while Twelvetrees’s rolled ankle will have to be assessed overnight. | Farrell’s excellent goal-kicking also continues to count in his favour, despite his below-par performance at 10 in Saturday’s 31-28 defeat by South Africa. Eastmond will be unable to train until Friday at the earliest after taking a knock to the head in the closing moments of the Springbok game while Twelvetrees’s rolled ankle will have to be assessed overnight. |
| With Manu Tuilagi still injured and Bath’s in-form Jonathan Joseph not among the 28 players called up for training this week, Farrell now has a chance of featuring as a centre against the Wallabies next week if he impresses in his new role alongside his Saracens’ club-mate Brad Barritt. | With Manu Tuilagi still injured and Bath’s in-form Jonathan Joseph not among the 28 players called up for training this week, Farrell now has a chance of featuring as a centre against the Wallabies next week if he impresses in his new role alongside his Saracens’ club-mate Brad Barritt. |
| Ford and Farrell did play together at under-20 level but have done so only briefly in senior rugby. “It is very much an opportunity for the group of players we pick to put their hands up for that Australia game,” Stuart Lancaster said. “If this team goes well. then there’s a good chance it should run through into next week’s game.” | |
| Among others in the frame to start are Ben Morgan and James Haskell in the back row and Ben Youngs at scrum-half. Saracens’ Richard Wigglesworth has also been invited to train with the squad this week and will be hoping to force his way into the matchday 23. | |
| Northampton’s Calum Clark has been included, too, in preference to a range of other potential back-row candidates including Will Fraser and the in-form Exeter duo of Thomas Waldrom and Dave Ewers. Bath’s Semesa Rokoduguni is still deemed unfit to play. | |
| With limited training time available in the wake of Saturday’s heavy-duty contest with the Springboks, Lancaster has decided there is no point inviting too many players into camp only to send them home again almost immediately. The England coach continues to insist, however, that headlines suggesting England are in a state of crisis do not accurately reflect the reality. | |
| “I don’t think that’s true at all,” he said. “If you say that, then you’re talking about a team with no belief in what they’re doing and no sense of direction. You’re talking about a group of players who are not aligned with what you’re trying to do, who are not agreeing with where you’re going and have poor discipline on and off the field. That’s a team in crisis. For me at the moment I don’t see any of those traits in this England team. I don’t subscribe to the view that because we lost on Saturday there is suddenly a big problem looming.” | |
| He does concede that criticism of England’s recent efforts has stung all concerned. “It’s not nice and it’s not taken lightly. It’s not very easy to tune out from it. It hurts when you lose and it should do. It hurts me personally because I’m responsible for the team and it hurts the players because the players care about the team. You just have to make sure you and all the other guys keep some perspective about what you’re trying to achieve, because it’s when the pressure starts to affect the team internally that the problems begin. My sense is that we’re disappointed with ourselves but we have to continue to believe in what we’re doing.” | |
| Having reviewed his side’s two November Tests so far, Lancaster also sees no reason to panic prematurely on the basis of two three-point defeats by South Africa or New Zealand, despite the “ticking clock” of next year’s World Cup. “We’re going to have pressure on us when the World Cup comes around, irrespective of the results leading up to it,” he said. “That comes with the expectation of being the home nation, so we’d better get used to it. | |
| “It’s easy to turn round and say you’ve not won any of your last five games but the opposition has been pretty good and three of the matches have been away from home. We’ve come up short and we’re not happy about that but we’ve not been smashed.” | |
| England squad v Samoa, Saturday M Brown (Harlequins), A Watson (Bath), J May (Gloucester), M Yarde (Harlequins), B Barritt (Saracens), L Burrell (Northampton), K Eastmond (Bath), B Twelvetrees (Gloucester), O Farrell (Saracens), G Ford (Bath), D Care (Harlequins), B Youngs (Leicester), R Wigglesworth (Saracens), J Marler (Harlequins), M Mullan (Wasps), D Hartley (Northampton), R Webber (Bath), D Wilson (Bath), K Brookes (Newcastle), D Attwood (Bath), G Kruis (Saracens), C Lawes (Northampton), C Clark (Northampton), J Haskell (Wasps), T Wood (Northampton), C Robshaw (Harlequins, capt), B Vunipola (Saracens), B Morgan (Gloucester) | England squad v Samoa, Saturday M Brown (Harlequins), A Watson (Bath), J May (Gloucester), M Yarde (Harlequins), B Barritt (Saracens), L Burrell (Northampton), K Eastmond (Bath), B Twelvetrees (Gloucester), O Farrell (Saracens), G Ford (Bath), D Care (Harlequins), B Youngs (Leicester), R Wigglesworth (Saracens), J Marler (Harlequins), M Mullan (Wasps), D Hartley (Northampton), R Webber (Bath), D Wilson (Bath), K Brookes (Newcastle), D Attwood (Bath), G Kruis (Saracens), C Lawes (Northampton), C Clark (Northampton), J Haskell (Wasps), T Wood (Northampton), C Robshaw (Harlequins, capt), B Vunipola (Saracens), B Morgan (Gloucester) |