2015 Rugby World Cup: Sam Burgess impresses in warm-up but England spot far from guaranteed

SAM Burgess showed enough in his Test rugby debut against France at Twickenham to prove he wouldn’t be totally out of place in next month’s Rugby World Cup.

Burgess hits hard but Cup may be beyond him

SAM Burgess showed enough in his Test rugby debut against France at Twickenham to prove he wouldn’t be totally out of place in next month’s Rugby World Cup.

But whether that will be enough to convince England coach Stuart Lancaster to include him in his 31-man squad is another matter.

It was obvious the former South Sydney Rabbitoh has learnt an awful lot about rugby since his woeful first international outing for England’s B side Saxons against Irish Wolfhounds seven months ago.

Sam Burgess had an excellent game in defence for the English.

It was equally obvious that he still has a lot to learn, most notably the rules. Two minutes before half-time in England’s 19-14 win he was caught napping by a quick tap by French half-back Morgan Parra, grabbed his jersey without making even a pretence of retiring, and earned 10 minutes in the sin-bin.

While it was a case of ignorance rather than foul play, it was enough to mar what up to then had been a faultless display.

Gone was the indecision and butter-fingers on show in Ireland, replaced by steady competence and a willingness to get involved.

From the first time Burgess was involved in the play – a thumping head-on tackle of French captain Dmitri Szarzewski only two minutes into the match – he played with power and intent.

There was even a bit of sleight of hand - a slick planned move in which his centre partner Henry Slade went into fly-half, passed to regular number 10 Owen Farrell and then looped around to take a good pass from Burgess, before sending winger Anthony Watson away for his second try.

It looked good, and Burgess played his supporting role well, but there was no doubt that Slade was the star, and therein lies the rub.

With this very much an experimental England side thrown together to answer Lancaster’s final selection headaches, the feeling was that Burgess and Slade were going head-to-head for the one remaining centre spot in the squad.

While Slade can’t boast the bulk and strength of Burgess – who can? – what he does offer is versatility. He can play every position from 10 to 15, and against France showed that he can play them well, a priceless commodity during a long cup campaign.

Sam Burgess tries to bust through the tackle of Remi Lamerat.

Burgess is very much a one-trick pony, and up until this match, there were plenty who questioned whether he was even that.

The media barrage in the lead up to the game was, in many cases, brutal. One commentator described Burgess’s first Test cap as “undeserved”, while another said his last effort against Wolfhounds was “embarrassing”.

His only hope of selection for the World Cup, it was felt, was to fill the role left by Manu Tuilagi, the midfield battering ram dropped from the squad for disciplinary reasons.

That being the case, he had few opportunities to show that he has the game to be a Tuilagi, which is not to say he has no game at all.

Everything that Burgess had to do, he did well.

There were two huge tackles, a couple of runs in which he crossed the gain line and made the ball available, and on one occasion even rumbled 10 metres or so down the left wing.

But there were no Ma’a Nonu line breaks; no Sonny Bill Williams miracle passes. His pace is of the slow-burn, rather than explosive variety and his reaction time was as to be expected of a man who has been playing the game for all of a year.

Lancaster gave him every chance – when he made backline changes he left Burgess on the field and substituted Slade – but if the decision really is between those two for a RWC spot, it shouldn’t take him too long to make.

The Irish continue to impress in the lead-up to the World Cup.

At Landsdowne Road, Ireland continued their try-laden World Cup build-up by scoring four five-pointers in a 28-22 win over Scotland at Lansdowne Road.

The match only came alive after the break with both sides taking turns to lead, and ultimately Ireland’s attacking prowess and stronger bench sealed victory, with Ian Madigan and Simon Zebo impressing.

At the Estadio Jose Amaltifani in Buenos Aires, South Africa partially made up for their humiliating home loss seven days earlier by beating Argentina 26-12.

The Springboks, who lost 37-25 in Durban last weekend, scored two tries through Bryan Habana and Lwazi Mvovo and led 20-9 at the break. Four penalty goals from Nicolas Sanchez was all the home side could muster.

Originally published as 2015 Rugby World Cup: Sam Burgess impresses in warm-up but England spot far from guaranteed