England vs. Samoa - Time To Take Things Up A Gear

If you will for a moment, cast your minds back to a little over a month ago to the weeks/days prior to the 2014 England EPS squad announcement. Do you remember the feelings that we all shared? A buzz and a huge amount of excitement and anticipation. The excitement was due to the wealth of depth that Stuart and his team had to choose between, how much can change in a couple of weeks. Now, coming into this third QBE test I would say that there is a little trepidation across the country and dare I say it in the aftermath of Saturday's defeat a little flatness. This is something that 23 men wearing white shirts with red roses on at Twickenham have the power to change for they their talent is unchanged from a month ago, they simply must display it, in full on Saturday afternoon and put on a show.

GF & OF must shine 

Two individuals that will be integral to that show are George Ford and Owen Farrell, at 10 and 12 respectively. They have been friends for years; so many years that used to do each other’s homework and I'm sure over an essay or two they once said the words 'when we play for England together'. Now that is a reality, and boy does a lot of responsibility lie on their young shoulders for it is absolutely critical that they perform and perform well. This is an axis that is being tested and it is one that must fix the game management issues that England have shown in the previous two tests. Owen's selection was always going to be questioned and personally I'm going to hold judgement for the proof will be in the pudding. Naturally we are all excited about George wearing the 10 jersey for a full 80 minutes, for in the cameos that he has made to date he has delivered well on his key priorities; obtaining England the right territory, at the right times and securing those essential goal kicks. In short, Ford and Farrell must recreate the magic of their youth and excel this weekend and with the experienced Ben Youngs at scrum half, in theory this should be easy to do.

The back row has a new shape to it too with James Haskell, Chris Robshaw and Ben Morgan. James has only been capped more times than Dylan Hartley; during his 51 England caps and as Captain of Wasps he has shown unrelenting physicality and go forward and that he can be a real pain to an opposition at the breakdown. On Saturday, all of these attributes will be king. Robshaw will work himself into the ground and Ben Morgan will know just how much of an opportunity this is to showcase his worth against a hugely physical Samoan side. Elsewhere in the forwards the phrase ‘as you were’ springs to mind, Rob Webber should simply continue his form and at the set piece England have been strong... nothing need change this weekend.

For England it is time to put two weeks of trouble behind them and go out and play a spot of rugby in the manner that we know that they are capable of doing. Errors must not feature, gifting points must not happen for Samoa's threats are real with Wasps' Alapati Leuia and Saints' Kahn Fotuali'i just two of many. The dishonourable behaviour of Samoa's Union will only fuel their fire and there is not questioning the fact that they will be a test for Lancaster's side. Exactly like last weekend the pressure on England will be huge, for a loss this weekend is quite frankly unfathomable. As Stuart rightly said last weekend ‘It hurts to lose; it hurts to lose at Twickenham’ and I truly hope with all my heart that after 80 minutes of action on Saturday evening I am not hearing or writing about any form of hurt, instead I am praising players to the hills and penning a glowing report due to the outstanding rugby showcased, by England, on the Twickenham turf. 

England: 15 Mike Brown 14 Anthony Watson 13 Brad Barritt 12 Owen Farrell 11 Jonny May 10 George Ford 9 Ben Youngs 1 Joe Marler 2 Rob Webber 3 David Wilson 4 Dave Attwood 5 Courtney Lawes 6 James Haskell 7 Chris Robshaw 8 Ben Morgan Replacements 16 Dylan Hartley 17 Matt Mullan 18 Kieran Brookes 19 George Kruis 20 Tom Wood 21 Richard Wigglesworth 22 Billy Twelvetrees 23 Marland Yarde 

Samoa: 15 Ken Pisi 14 Alapati Leiua 13 Reynold Lee Lo 12 Johnny Leota 11 David Lemi (C) 10 Tusi Pisi 9 Kahn Fotuali'i 1 Sakaria Taulafo 2 Tii Paulo 3 Census Johnston 4 Teofilo Paulo 5 Kane Thompson 6 Maurie Fa'asavalu 7 Jack Lam 8 Ofisa Treviranus Replacements 16 Maatuilmanu Leiatua 17 Viliamu Afatia 18 Anthony Perenise 19 Faatiga Lemalu 20 Daniel Leo 21 TJ Ioane 22 Pele Cowley 23 Michael Stanley