THERE comes a point in every head coach’s tenure where he has to take a decision that will make or break him. In the case of England boss Stuart Lancaster, that point arrived this week.
In replacing George Ford with Owen Farrell and opting for Sam Burgess as the injured Jonathan Joseph’s replacement for Saturday's crucial pool game with Wales, Lancaster has effectively ripped up his World Cup Plan A after just one fixture.
Never mind that Ford was the star of a Six Nations Championship that had previously been cited as the ideal World Cup warm-up for an England side gradually getting to grips with a more expansive game, or that the fly-half ran proceedings as England outplayed Wales in the Millennium Stadium this spring.
Ignore the handling qualities of Henry Slade, an inside centre who would have been a more natural replacement for Joseph and provided England with some midfield balance, and instead go for the crash-ball talents of Burgess, whose rugby union experience remains limited.
Like football boss Roy Hodgson and cricket coach Peter Moores before him, Lancaster has found himself in the crucible of a World Cup finals and opted to go down the safety-first route rather than attempt a more adventurous selection.
Perhaps it will work, and he will be hailed a visionary. So much of Wales’ attacking relies on the power of Jamie Roberts, and having watched Fiji’s physicality cause problems in England’s number ten channel last Friday, Lancaster clearly feels some extra defensive ballast is required.
The fear is that England tried something similar in the 2011 tournament, replacing Toby Flood with Jonny Wilkinson and pairing Manu Tuilagi and Mike Tindall in a centre pairing that lacked finesse. The result was that Martin Johnson’s side suffered an ignominious exit to France at the quarter-final stage.
Whatever happens on Saturday, England will live to fight another day. But having failed to place his trust in two of his side’s most creative players, has Lancaster delivered a significant blow to his team’s chances of success?
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