Wales not underestimating England, says Sam Warburton
Wednesday 17 June 2015 23:01, UK
England’s World Cup campaign will not be affected by recent squad disruptions, according to Wales captain Sam Warburton.
England have been rocked by the loss of centre Manu Tuilagi and hooker Dylan Hartley over disciplinary issues, while outside-half Danny Cipriani remains part of Stuart Lancaster's World Cup squad, despite a police investigation into a car accident.
But Warburton has warned his team not to underestimate England when the two sides meet at Twickenham on September 26.
"It didn't affect them in the Six Nations, they had a lot of players out but they come away from home and beat us," Warburton said.
"They deserve a massive amount of credit for that.
"I've met Dylan Hartley, he's a great lad and he will be a big loss for them because he's a very good captain and leader.
"The same with Manu as I was hugely impressed when I played with him for the Lions.
"But I think England have got great strength in depth and they proved that against us in Cardiff earlier this year. They will be okay."
Wales and England both feature in Pool A, alongside Australia, Fiji and Uruguay and will continue their World Cup preparations with a training camp in Qatar ahead of warm-up matches against Ireland and Italy.
England have a similar programme with two matches against France and a visit from Ireland, while Australia will have more competitive games in a truncated 2015 Rugby Championship against Argentina, New Zealand and South Africa.
But Warburton believes the World Cup is the one time in the rugby calendar when the northern and southern hemisphere nations compete on a level playing field.
"If we lost in the World Cup to a southern hemisphere team and I'm sure, vice-versa, nobody would blame the playing schedules," he said.
"It's probably the only one time when all the teams are happy with their preparation going into that period.
"We've got good preparation with three games and we got huge benefits out of playing England home and away, and Argentina last time around.
"We need the three games because the southern hemisphere teams are playing in the Championship and we haven't been together since the Six Nations.
"But, arguably, we are going to be fresher. They will have played a Super 15 tournament and the Rugby Championship before going into World Cup, but I think it's going to be pretty balanced."
