Rugby World Cup Stock Check: 157 days to go

With precious little time left for players to impress before the end of the season and World Cup squads are announced, whose stock went up and whose went down during the weekend’s rugby?

GOING UP

Sam Burgess
Bath & England
Burgess made his first start at blindside (for the first team) against Newcastle and put in probably his most impressive performance in a Bath shirt to date, winning a round-high five turnovers. He wasn’t too conspicuous in his carrying, and did mistime a couple of runs to spill the ball but overall it was a good outing. More intriguing than Burgess’ performance, however, was Wallaby coach Michael Cheika’s assertion that they “fully expected” Burgess to make the World Cup squad. Does he know something we don’t?

Peter Horne
Glasgow & Scotland
Scotland centres are falling like flies at the moment, with Matt Scott the latest to be ruled out for the rest of the season, following Alex Dunbar’s untimely injury in the Six Nations. It makes Horne’s stunning hattrick at the weekend all the more timely, and given his versatility (he can do a good job at fly-half and fullback) he is all but nailed on for a spot in Vern Cotter’s World Cup squad. What caught the eye most at the weekend was the timing of his support runs – a trait of all world-class centres – that allowed him to collect offloads without breaking stride.

Tomas Francis
Exeter Chiefs & Wales/England
Alex Corbisiero was one of the foremost loosehead props in the world as recently as 2013, and yet at the weekend Francis reduced him to little more than a whimpering pup at scrum time. It was an immensely powerful showing from the young tightehead, who was at the heart of his side’s set-piece dominance. Francis was born in York and grew up in England, but has a Welsh grandmother and came very close to making their Six Nations squad. He would be a true World Cup bolter – but for whom? Given the respective levels of depth at tighthead, he is much more likely to be capped by Wales than England this year and appears to have nailed his colours to their mast.

Chris Ashton
Saracens & England
Ashton is in the kind of form that recalls his breakthrough seasons at the Saints. Against Leicester at the weekend he only touched the ball six times, but managed to make 83 metres, two clean line breaks and beat three defenders on those occasions. He is brimming with confidence again and had a hand in each of Saracens’ three tries. You fancy that his time in an England shirt has probably been and gone, but if he keeps performing like this then anything is possible, especially as right wing is one position far from nailed down in the national side.

Paddy Jackson
Ulster & Ireland
Jackson’s return to fitness and form continued at the weekend when he orchestrated a fine victory for Ulster away to Connacht – not an easy place to win this season. The diminutive fly-half’s distribution especially caught the eye, fizzing passes of both his left and right hands to finish with three assists to his name. Jackson will battle it out with Ians Madigan and Keatley for Johnny Sexton’s back-up spot at the World Cup, but with this sort of performance the Ulsterman puts himself firmly at the front of the queue.

GOING DOWN

Tom Youngs
Leicester & England
Youngs’ brainless decision to shoulder charge Chris Ashton left his side badly in the lurch, the Tigers conceding three tries during his time in the bin to completely undo their good work that had seen them take a six point lead. Youngs has been in good form this year and would have been pushing Dylan Hartley for the starting England spot, but moments of madness like this are more reminiscent of the incumbent hooker at his worst.

Stephen Myler
Northampton Saints & England
Myler is usually the personification of calm; not the fanciest of fly-halves, but unwaveringly unflustered. Against the Chiefs, however, he was the reverse of that, receiving an early yellow card for a cynical slap down of the ball, before missing his only two kicks of the day and putting two restarts out on the full. Granted, it was windy and a difficult day for kickers, but the conditions were handled much better by his more inexperienced opposite man, Henry Slade.

Jack McGrath
Leinster & Ireland
McGrath’s stirling form for Ireland in the Six Nations is starting to feel like a long time ago. Cian Healy has returned from injury and has hit form, and is Leinster’s number one loosehead again. He was rested for the weekend’s game against the Dragons, but McGrath couldn’t take his opportunity as he gave away a couple of penalties at the scrum against a much less-vaunted Welsh unit and had little impact on the game in the loose.

By Jamie Hosie
Follow Jamie on Twitter: @jhosie43

Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images