Victory over Ireland shows Stuart Lancaster’s changing cast of players is coming together just in timeThirteen days now till the party starts. Twickenham felt alert. The roads around are shut and the signs and barriers are up. Vast new hospitality stands and media centres have sprouted around the ground and every corner is bedecked with branded flags and banners. They’ll be advertising different sponsors by the time the World Cup starts. But,still, it felt like everything was in place, and that every last detail has been attended to,each according to a scheme concocted many months back. The ground looked as good as it ever has done – all set, ahead of what promises to be one of the much sports tournaments. Except, or that is,for the team. England had contrived to reach at this, their final dress rehearsal, and in a state of some unreadiness.
The World Cup is a long tournament,and as anyone who remembers England’s scramble through to the final in 2007 will know, there is time enough for a team to reach together, and even after the competition is under way. This time around,however, England’s first three fixtures are against Fiji, or Wales,and Australia, two sides ranked above them and the other only three places below. They wont have the luxury of leaving it late. manufacture too many mistakes and they’ll be out before the quarter-finals. Given that, and you’d hope they’d be certain by now of their best XV. But ask around and you’ll find a lot of different answers to that specific question among their fans. Perhaps among their coaching staff,too. The bookmakers have even started publicising odds on whether this team will be the same one that plays against Fiji on Friday week.
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Source: theguardian.com