As far as the France game goes, the thing that worries me about Burrell is he seems to try and be something he’s not, and that’s a playmaking 12. He’s shown flashes of it for Saints in the last couple of years, but not consistently enough to be considered as one. He can cut loose on occasion and break the defence, but as we saw in the 6N, he then gets a bit lost and doesn’t know what to do next. The chance he had to grubber the ball or at least attempt a long pass to Watson, but instead he tried to take the defence one on one and failed! It really sticks in my mind, that at international level, those kind of chances cannot be missed.

We know what we’re going to get with Barritt, and that is a player who will not stop tackling for 80 minutes, and will crash the ball up when required, get stuck into rucks and slow down opposition ball. People will say that’s not the 12’s job, but against some teams it’s exactly what you need. This is why I think Burgess could be crucial. Especially having played so much at 6 recently for Bath. If he can play like he did last week but with Ford and JJ, and England can hold their defensive shape, we really will be a force.

For me, that means Ford. I believe he is good enough to play a tighter game as necessary.

It is the first game, a potential banana skin, and it needs to be taken seriously and respectfully. If, and I wouldn’t take this as a “given”, England get into a comfortable position then they cane make changes earlier than they may otherwise

England then have 8 days until they play Wales. Wales will have had six days from their Uruguay game.

The Uruguay game is an interesting choice for Gatland. Does he play his A team in that? I think that he probably should, simply to get a game under their belts. From an England perspective I would rather he chose a second string to play Uruguay.

I like the idea of Farrell and ford playing together with Slade at 15. That would be a very open and quick game. Would need May and Watson on the wings and maybe even Nowell at fullback. Maybe against Uruguay. Could be fun. Depends on how many points are needed.

I think centres for France will be fine as they were in the 6 nations together and have had more time than most.

The Anti Farrell vibe really annoys me and I can see him playing a huge point in the next few weeks. His friendship with Ford can only be a positive if they play together.

If Ford has the right players around him I think he’s perfectly capable of playing in any game. If Barritt gets fit I would definitely have him in the Wales and Aus games beside Ford. I still think we might see Ford and Farrell together at some point.

The difference in the two players means you have to change other players to get the best out of them. If Farrell is playing you need a Goode or Slade in the team because Farrell does have a habit of getting stuck in rucks trying to win turnovers, and you need another first receiver/playmaker. If Ford is playing you need Barritt (or similar) to hold and organise the defence.

It will be interesting to see Fofana and Bastareaud running at Burrell and JJ this weekend and see how they cope with them. Both are tricky players to defend against and I’m not sure Burrell and JJ will cope too well?! Having 12T on the bench doesn’t fill me with much hope either.

As Wales found in 2007, if you try to play Fiji at their own game it’s going to end in tears.

A defensive but capable backline of Wigglesworth, Farrell, Barritt, Joseph, Nowell, Watson and Brown for me please

Also wouldn’t want to see Youngs or Ford get injured in the first game

Cowan-Dickie passed the first and flunked the second
Haven’t seen anything in the media about lancaster opinion of george’s performance in camp but i get the feeling that unless he has a stellar 30+ minutes he will not make the cut, which will be a big shame