Sam Burgess not ready for World Cup, says Will Carling
Thursday 27 August 2015 09:59, UK
Will Carling has urged coach Stuart Lancaster to leave Sam Burgess out of his England squad for the Rugby World Cup, which will be announced later on Thursday.
Lancaster is due to name his final 31-man squad for next month's tournament and has plenty of selection quandaries, chief among them filling out his depth chart at centre.
Brad Barritt and Jonathan Joseph appear sure of selection, leaving Burgess, Luther Burrell, Billy Twelvetrees and Henry Slade fighting it out for the other two berths,
Burgess moved into rugby union 10 months ago and made his Test debut in the first World Cup warm-up clash against France earlier this month.
But Carling, who made his name in the centres, feels the 26-year-old rugby league convert was frequently caught out of position - a weakness the leading teams in the world would look to exploit.
"I'm in awe of Sam as a rugby league player, but there is no one that I have spoken to who I respect - ex-players, coaches - who thinks he's ready," Carling said at Heineken's World Cup launch.
"I don't understand what the rush is and it's unfair on him. I feel sorry for him. If he wants to make it in union, there's plenty of time.
"He's been playing union for 10 months and half of that was in a different position to what England are playing him in.
"He'll hit you hard if he can line you up and he's a great guy, but I don't believe he's one of the four best centres in England.
"He was functional against France and wasn't a disaster, but there was nothing that made me think 'wow'. I thought Henry Slade had a far bigger impact than Burgess with his touches and the way he read the game.
"If you watched Burgess carefully, he was out of position a huge amount in defence and England can't afford that against sides who will focus on him. He hasn't had time in the game. He doesn't understand where the ball is coming from and you can see that in the way his feet are when he lines up.
"The southern hemisphere boys will focus on him if he's playing. If (Australia centre) Matt Giteau plays against him... he'll sucker him on for the big hit and opponents will be coming from angles he doesn't understand."
Carling also questioned Lancaster's decision to cut Danny Cipriani from the World Cup squad after the Sale playmaker had produced an inspired cameo from the bench in Saturday's 25-20 defeat in Paris.
"Coaches have to make calls, but Cipriani wasn't given a chance. He didn't get a start, he didn't even get a half," Carling said.
