England Saxons squad for Cork gives Stuart Lancaster vital wriggle room
|
Version 0 of 1. First the good(ish) news. Three months into his rugby union education Sam Burgess agrees it’s a more complicated game than he had expected and the challenge of switching codes is proving more difficult than imagined. No surprise there and, if the man himself is saying it, then there is a good chance the hype and expectation will be ratcheted down to tolerable levels and Burgess can go about learning his business. Less good news. Where does that leave Stuart Lancaster and the suggestion, first made in the heady days after Burgess’s union debut, that he might have his first taste of international rugby union this month when the Saxons play Ireland’s second XV, the Wolfhounds, in Cork? And where, for that matter, does that leave England’s head coach as he contemplates how to approach that game? In the past it has been understood that Saxons games – and there are precious few these days – are developmental. Surely not this time. Ireland and Joe Schmidt will take Cork seriously – it’s never too soon for an Irish side to score a few points against the English when a Six Nations is around the corner – but, with the World Cup clock ticking, there are bigger issues involved. In less than a fortnight, after the next round of European games, Lancaster will announce his squad for the Six Nations when, allowing for injuries to Dan Cole and Manu Tuilagi, we should get a decent steer as to his World Cup intentions. The focus will be sharpened when he lists his squad for Cardiff and the Friday night Six Nations opener against Wales on 6 February but also important will be the side for Cork a week earlier. After last autumn, when Lancaster strayed from the strategic path he had so cleverly followed, there are fences to be mended, disaffected players to be got back on board and ambitions to be restoked. It is easy enough to massage the egos of a matchday Test 23 – you just pick them, that alone should do the trick – but if you “lose” the others who potentially will make up the World Cup squad of 31 to be announced in late summer, then it will be hard to get them back onside. And that is why Cork is different from previous Saxons matches. Along with possibly Italy at Twickenham in the Six Nations, it presents Lancaster with what little wriggle room he has left before the big kick-off against Fiji in September. A good Six Nations and England face Wales and Australia in September and October optimistic of dodging an early World Cup exit; failure and Lancaster will have a difficult spring and summer making amends. All of which elevates the importance of his Cork selection. So how does he go about it? Well, first he has to know his most likely matchday candidates for the Six Nations and then select another squad which not only has the ability to win but will grow in the knowledge that they are still very much part of the head coach’s plans. After an in-and-out autumn Rob Webber may benefit from a start at hooker, possibly alongside Matt Mullan at loosehead with Henry Thomas, who has slipped behind Kieran Brookes, on the other side. George Kruis, who got time coming off the bench in the autumn, and Graham Kitchener, returning after injury, would be the boiler room, assuming that Geoff Parling is already pencilled in elsewhere. Otherwise in the pack Calum Clark’s Northampton form suggests he should play, while Dave Ewers and possibly Will Fraser would give balance to the back row. But the real interest comes in the backs. Chris Pennell, a resurgent Ben Foden and Alex Goode, too good a player not to make the World Cup, are all in with a shout for the full-back’s shirt while three wings all have cases to make: Semesa Rokoduguni, because of the rough deal he got in the autumn, Jack Nowell on the right and Marland Yarde, at last beginning to click with Harlequins, on the left. That leaves the half-backs – Danny Cipriani because he is one of the few No10s England have who can leave the replacements’ bench with 15 or 20 minutes to go and change a game and Richard Wigglesworth, who did not get enough time to state his case in the autumn – and the ongoing problem of England’s midfield. England tried three No12s during the autumn and there are doubts about whether Tuilagi is going to be match fit for at least the start of the Six Nations, so it’s hard to say who Lancaster may have as his centre partnership. However, with the World Cup in mind and his ability to play 10, 12, 13 and 15, it’s surely time to have a look at Henry Slade. He kicks, passes, has vision and defence and is currently playing outside-centre with Exeter. However, to me he looks a more natural inside-centre for Cork with Luther Burrell outside, although you sense Slade would be equally at home alongside Tuilagi at some time in the future. |