England Centres

Luther Burrell

He must be wondering what he has to do to get a chance. His form this season, although not entirely injury free, has been very impressive. He's been really solid in defence, his distribution game is improving all the time and he consistently breaks the gainline with his power. I thought he'd be brought in for the Samoa game and I'm a little disappointed England haven't given him a chance against Australia. Our backs looks very conservative in the midfield with little ball carrying ability, if you are going to play two distributors in the 10-12 axis, why play a conservative outside centre?

Jonathan Joseph

JJ has been the best outside centre in the premiership this season. His defence has been immense, his outside break and foot work spectacular, whilst he always looks dangerous. I think he is massively unlucky not to feature over the Autumn internationals, despite the lacklustre performances of the current crop of centres.

Current Situation

It almost feels like Lancaster views Barritt as a stop gap at 13. Simply biding his time until Tuilagi returns from injury. He played Eastmond at 12 outside a very conservative 10 and inside an even more conservative 13. Eastmond didn't fit in and was seemingly dropped for the third test against Samoa. He then tried out Farrell at 12 with Ford slotting in at 10. Ford is a special player, because despite playing with a defensively orientated backline he managed to play extremely well. I think having Twelvetrees outside Ford is a good decision for now, but I would have liked to of seen Lancaster give Burrell or JJ a chance to shine at outside centre.

Sam Burgess

The are rumours circulating that Burgess will be playing for Bath on Friday night against Harlequins. Ford has come out and said he will try Burgess at both 6 and 12 and see where he settles best. Burgess could prove to be a very effective international centre, but who will partner him with? Burgess and Tuilagi in the same XV would be a frightening prospect and would provide plenty of ball carrying options, but we would be extremely predictable. Burgess could form a dangerous centre partnership with Eastmond for Bath, but the form JJ is in, I think Bath could eventually use Eastmond off the wing and keep the electric JJ at outside centre. He would certainly provide the guile in contrast to Burgess's brute force.

What is the solution? Is anybody else as disillusioned as I am about the 10-12-13 axis Lancaster has been selecting?!

Ok i change my mind everyday about the centres.

The one who infuriates me is Twelvetrees. Individually he has all the skills. But as a package he seems incapable of putting them together on a regular consistant basis, and is error prone...ie passing to peoples feet etc. If he can click then he should be the 12.

Barritt
I didnt appreciate him in the past but i do now and with the more creative 10 i want at 10 in Ford then Barritt gives you the solid platform to bring ford through.
Barritts passing is a point of criticism but i disagree. I think its basic but its effective...he generally gets the ball out. Would be my starter at 12.

Manu
Would be my 13 when fit.

Joseph.
Playing exceptional and he would be in my match day squad.

For Saturday following the media, im expecting:
10 Ford
12 Twelvetrees
13 Barritt

Of these im happy with the selection of Ford and Barritt, i think they will perform well. I think the pressure will really be on Twelvetrees however.

As ive said in the other threads, from 36 im not looking for fireworks. I want to see solid defence, good passing (both mixing his range of passing and completion..ie not passing to feet and not risking any interceptions), a good kicking game when Ford is under pressure or just using intelligence, and keeping the defence on its toes. Hes a big guy with pace...he needs to judge when to make the breaks.

Lancaster will take Tuilagi, Barritt and Burrell to the World Cup if Twelvetrees is out of form. If Twelvetrees is in good nick, then he goes, and the choice is between Barritt and Burrell.

If two of those four are down, then Eastmond looks like the first cab off the rank after that.

The selection is partly dependent on Farrell being at least one of the fly half choices - starter or on the bench. If he isn't there, then we will either lack back three cover, or centre cover in our match day squad. That's not acceptable, so selections will have to be re-jigged to provide it.

The wild card is Burgess.

It seems that Lancaster isn't convinced our back lines are vocal enough at calling what they see. It's unlikely Burgess would be a shrinking violet, and his character might be handy to have around the squad if he can play the game at all. I've no idea who would lose out if Burgess was selected.

I think Lancaster had a Farrell, Twelvetrees, Tuilagi midfield in mind as his best, but couldn't get it on the field. He did have a chance in the second Test on tour this year but decided to try Tuilagi on the wing.

I'm sure he did so because he liked how the Twelvetrees-Burrell axis went in the 6N. He wanted to know if he could play that combination with Tuilagi on the wing because it would also solve the problem of how to balance a match day squad without Farrell.