Stuart Lancaster has announced the squad that will face France on Saturday night and it contains 14 changes to the one that played last weekend. Normally when you read that there have been 14 changes you worry, however in this case the team selected has a familiar feeling to it and by and large highlights the side that, injury permitting, should start against Fiji in precisely thirty one days time.
Interestingly for England's Head Coach this week's selection decisions didn't pick themselves, today he highlighted a number of times how difficult it was to choose his bench for the fixture and expressed a desire to have had one more game to play with! The fact is that after one match Stuart has had to decide which members of his squad he has seen enough of, from a Test match perspective, and which he still needs to give air-time too and these choices were challenging.
For example Stuart could have placed Ben Morgan on the bench in order to give him twenty or thirty extra minutes of rugby following his long injury lay off but instead he has chosen to give Nick Easter his opportunity. In the centres he could have given Sam Burgess extra Test match time and a chance to gel with Ford and Joseph however he has decided to give Luther Burrell a fair crack at the whip and to give Billy Twelvetrees more time off the bench. In the heart of the pack it will be Jamie George's turn to shine off and equally David Wilson is given game time. What is clear is that competition is fierce and although that brings headaches for England's management it is all that they could ask for at this stage in camp. Interestingly whilst explaining his selection choices Stuart commented that what has happened over the past eight weeks will have a 'bigger bearing' on his decisions than what we see from these two warm up matches. So, if we all read between the lines, this comment paves the way for a player putting their hand up strongly in a warm up fixture but still not being selected for the final 31.
When it comes down to it the individuals that have been selected are chomping at the bit to get game time, the starting XV have watched colleagues go out and stake their claims on what they will see as 'their jerseys' and now they want to remind us all why they are England's first choice. This England side will know that the eyes of the world will be on them, for it is the first chance that every other nation will get to see the hosts go all guns blazing against another test team. For the starting XV we know what they are aiming to do and for those on the bench it really is 'do or die' in terms of putting their hands up for selection.
In all honesty PSA's selection is neither here nor there on this one, I expect that France will start to roll out some of their big guns, Fofana, Bastareaud and co however for Stuart Lancaster and England the focus should remain solely on their output. This may be more of a secure England XV and a match that is less of an audition however from my perspective the intrigue is just as strong as last weekend. This time, the intrigue lies in seeing the fruits of England's very hard labour and watching individuals deliver knowing that their colleagues are hot on their heels. Personally I hope that the output delights us all and delivers a victory that makes the rest of the world sit up and take notice.
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| (C) Paler Images |
For example Stuart could have placed Ben Morgan on the bench in order to give him twenty or thirty extra minutes of rugby following his long injury lay off but instead he has chosen to give Nick Easter his opportunity. In the centres he could have given Sam Burgess extra Test match time and a chance to gel with Ford and Joseph however he has decided to give Luther Burrell a fair crack at the whip and to give Billy Twelvetrees more time off the bench. In the heart of the pack it will be Jamie George's turn to shine off and equally David Wilson is given game time. What is clear is that competition is fierce and although that brings headaches for England's management it is all that they could ask for at this stage in camp. Interestingly whilst explaining his selection choices Stuart commented that what has happened over the past eight weeks will have a 'bigger bearing' on his decisions than what we see from these two warm up matches. So, if we all read between the lines, this comment paves the way for a player putting their hand up strongly in a warm up fixture but still not being selected for the final 31.
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| (C) Paler Images |
In all honesty PSA's selection is neither here nor there on this one, I expect that France will start to roll out some of their big guns, Fofana, Bastareaud and co however for Stuart Lancaster and England the focus should remain solely on their output. This may be more of a secure England XV and a match that is less of an audition however from my perspective the intrigue is just as strong as last weekend. This time, the intrigue lies in seeing the fruits of England's very hard labour and watching individuals deliver knowing that their colleagues are hot on their heels. Personally I hope that the output delights us all and delivers a victory that makes the rest of the world sit up and take notice.
England Rugby; 15 Mike Brown, 14 Jack Nowell, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Luther Burrell, 11 Jonny May, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 1 Joe Marler, 2 Tom Youngs, 3 Dan Cole, 4 Joe Launchbury, 5 Courtney Lawes, 6 James Haskell, 7 Chris Robshaw, 8 Billy Vunipola Replacements; 16 Jamie George, 17 Mako Vunipola, 18 David Wilson, 19 Dave Attwood, 20 Nick Easter, 21 Danny Care, 22 Danny Cipriani, 23 Billy Twelvetrees
