Robshaw in as Lancaster ousts 14

“That particular decision around the centre combination will go down to the wire”. “I thought he played well”.

England have selected Luther Burrell and Jonathan Joseph as their centres for Saturday’s World Cup warm-up match against France in Paris.

Burgess made an encouraging worldwide debut against the French at Twickenham last week despite being sin-binned for tackling an opponent while in an offside position, helping Stuart Lancaster’s side to a 19-14 victory.

Indeed, he indicated that there was more chance of both Burgess and Slade surviving the cull as a result of their performances last weekend than there had been before that game.

Ford remains in the driving seat and his ability to make decisions a couple of steps closer to the line adds an extra element to England’s attack along with his first class game management.

“When we name the 31, clearly these two against France will have had a bearing, but what’s happened over the course of the last eight weeks in training will have had a bigger bearing”.

“I said it last season watching him play for Bath that the difference between attack play in league and union is that in union the hard work starts when the player is tackled and the ruck forms”.

It will come as little consolation to England or Wales but rugby’s authorities are set to revise the seeding timing for future World Cups to avoid a repeat of the pool of death they find themselves in at next month’s tournament alongside Australia.

“Luther is desperate to get a game”.

“Luther knows it is a big challenge and I am expecting a big response”.

Faced with the reality that one of the current top six sides in the world will be eliminated before the knockout stages, World Rugby are likely to put back the cut-off point for Japan 2019.

Prop Alex Corbisiero is troubled by sciatic nerve pain, ruling him out of Saturday’s contest, and Lancaster insists he needs to prove his fitness.

“The clock is ticking and we need to see him train, if not by the end of this week then by next week”.

Full-back Mike Brown makes his first appearance since facing France in March after recovering from concussion and his Harlequins team-mate Chris Robshaw is back at the helm.

By going with Billy Twelvetrees and Danny Cipriani on the bench rather than Burgess and Slade, however, Lancaster has remained faithful to his promise to give everyone a shot at the prize, fanciful or not.