Rugby World Cup: Back-row injuries add to England troubles

London: England are facing a mounting injury crisis as they bid to salvage their World Cup campaign following their 28-25 defeat by Wales, with Stuart Lancaster, the head coach, admitting that “everything rests” on the make-or-break match against Australia.

Ben Youngs (ankle), Billy Vunipola (knee) and Courtney Lawes (knee) are all doubts for the game at Twickenham on Saturday, joining Jonathan Joseph and Ben Morgan, who both missed the Wales defeat, on a lengthening injury list that is threatening to undermine England’s hopes of qualifying for the quarter-finals.

In the nightmare scenario that Vunipola, Morgan (knee) and Lawes do not recover in time to face Australia, Lancaster would face a back-row crisis that could force him to consider Sam Burgess as a flanker.

Burgess, who started his first competitive Test match at inside centre on Saturday, finished last season at blindside flanker for Bath. England have so far insisted his gain-line breaking skills are best exploited in the midfield, but the worst case scenario could see Lancaster left with only two fit back-row players to face Australia.

The injuries have intensified the size of the challenge that Lancaster faces in picking up his squad following the calamity of the defeat by Wales.

The England head coach on Sunday admitted that this weekend’s game had now become a “World Cup final” for his side as defeat would almost certainly end the hosts’ hopes of reaching the knockout stages.

Lancaster, who rose at dawn on Sunday to review the Wales match, issued a rallying call by insisting that his players would be ready to face Australia and offered a full backing to his captain Chris Robshaw, who has come under fire for turning down the chance of securing a draw by deciding to kick a penalty to touch rather than at goal.

“We back the captain and we back all the players; we always have done and we always will,” said Lancaster, who highlighted England’s poor discipline at the breakdown as the key to Wales getting back into the game.

“We played some great rugby in the first half and virtually every decision we made and every action we did was very good. It was a professional and well-executed first-half performance so I’m certainly not going to sit here and hang anyone out to dry.”

Asked if he was concerned about the impact the penalty decision would have on Robshaw’s leadership, Lancaster added: “As a group we were in a similar position I think in 2012, where we all felt responsible because we didn’t make the decision work, and the mentality feels the same now.

“Obviously on the back of that performance, we beat New Zealand. And we’ll be exactly the same this week. We’ve got a massive game against Australia and we’ll batten down the hatches and make sure we come out firing on all cylinders.”

Joseph, considered central to England’s attacking plans, is almost certain to miss the game against Australia, which is likely to see Exeter’s Henry Slade come into consideration at outside centre even though Lancaster insisted that he had no regrets about his decision to pair Burgess and Brad Barritt together and drop George Ford in preference to Owen Farrell.

“The reality is for me now, and the players, that we’ve got to move on very very quickly to the next game, Australia, because if we beat them we are absolutely back in the game,” Lancaster said.

“I am ready to go and, If I am ready to go, I can guarantee they will be.”

— The Daily Telegraph