Stuart Lancaster: ‘Burgess is not a panic move… He’ll handle it’

Stuart Lancaster today defended his decision to give Sam Burgess his first World Cup start and axe George Ford for England’s crunch clash with Wales, insisting it was not a panic move.

The head coach confirmed this morning three changes to the XV that beat Fiji with Burgess coming in at No12 for Jonathan Joseph, who has a chest injury, Owen Farrell replacing Ford and Billy Vunipola playing at No8 instead of Ben Morgan, who has a knee injury.

To accommodate Burgess in midfield, Brad Barritt has been switched from inside to outside centre for Saturday’s Pool A match at Twickenham.

The changes are seen as a defensive move to negate Wales’ attacking strength and were leaked on Tuesday. They sparked criticism as Burgess has played just 20 games of rugby union since moving from league, while the demotion of Ford after his stellar rise with England seems harsh.

But Lancaster said today: “There is definitely no panic in selection.

“Once we heard about Joseph’s injury we could have gone down a number of routes. This choice is to give us a foothold in the game and we are confident in Owen’s ability to perform in this game. George was disappointed but has been great in training and we have two quality players.

“It’s a big game for Sam and he has more than proved he is capable of playing at this level and has big-game experience. We don’t have lots of Tests to judge Sam and so we have to rely on training. I am confident he can defend well. He will give us good front-foot ball and 100 per cent he is ready for it.”

Injury-hit Wales also announced their team with inexperienced Tomas Francis starting at tight-head prop less than a month after his Test debut.