And Another Thing

He might not be able to close down much of the speculation surrounding his camp but Stuart Lancaster gave it his best shot yesterday when, four days ahead of the match, he named his starting XV for England’s closing World Cup match against Uruguay.

Doubtless those who wish only to find fault with the head coach will now accuse him of failing to show Uruguay sufficient respect, while the omission of Sam Burgess only heightened the speculation that the most controversial of those selected for the England squad is set to return to rugby league.

Lancaster literally cannot win right now, of course, but he has given pretty much all of those who have been on the margins of involvement to this point the chance to do so with the overhaul of his starting line-up.