Monday 3 November 2014 14:55, UK
England coach Stuart Lancaster expects his players to go toe-to-toe with the Southern Hemisphere’s superpowers in the autumn internationals despite a mounting injury toll.
Wasps lock Joe Launchbury became the latest player to be ruled out on Sunday after being ordered to rest a persistent neck problem with Leicester’s Graham Kitchener called up to replace him.
Launchbury joins a long list of established players slated to miss the entire series which includes Geoff Parling, Alex Corbisiero, Mako Vunipola, Tom Youngs, Dan Cole, Ed Slater, Tom Croft and Manu Tuilagi.
Despite the squad’s injury woes, Lancaster is adamant there will be no excuses if the team he puts out fails to perform against New Zealand on Saturday.
The 45-year-old sees the situation as an ideal opportunity to improve England’s depth by giving new players exposure to Test rugby and feels that will ultimately benefit the squad for the World Cup next summer.
“It is often the case that you bring lads in and they step up and that is what they will have to do this time with a very experienced, cohesive All Blacks team coming to Twickenham,” he said.
“The good thing is it opens up opportunities for others to put a marker. When we get them all back for the Six Nations and the World Cup camp there will be some real selection problems.”
With Parling out until December because of concussion, Courtney Lawes and Dave Attwood are likely to form the second row against the All Blacks, with George Kruis offering cover from the bench.
There was better news for Lancaster on the injury front in the front row as he confirmed props Joe Marler and David Wilson should be fit to play at the weekend.
Lancaster was at a loss to explain why the squad has been hit so hard by injuries but he is confident they have the depth to cope.
When asked about it, he said: “A little bit of bad luck. It is a tough competition that the players play in. All the injuries are slightly different in nature.
“There are probably more in the same position this time, the front five in particular losing Corbisiero, Cole and Tom Youngs. It opens up the opportunity now.
The good thing is it opens up opportunities for others to put a marker. When we get them all back for the Six Nations and the World Cup camp there will be some real selection problems.
“George Kruis has been excellent and we have got Graham Kitchener but more importantly Dave Atwood and Courtney Lawes who are pretty experienced second rows for us.”
Lancaster acknowledged the All Blacks game will be a massive test for his side but he is confident they will be competitive if they replicate what they have been doing in training.
“We have a huge game coming up against the world champions,” he said.
“The players’ ability to translate what we are doing in training under the white-hot intensity of Twickenham and put on a show for those 80,000 fans – that is what we are looking forward to.”
Watch England v New Zealand live on Sky Sports 2 from 1.30pm on Saturday.
