• Interim head coach presented with healthy selection headache
• "Playing at Twickenham is a significant advantage for us" – Lancaster

 

Interim England Head Coach Stuart Lancaster says he is "excited" about the prospect of facing Wales at Twickenham this Saturday and believes that a home crowd will lift his side as they look to continue their winning start to this season’s RBS 6 Nations.

Lancaster himself will be buoyed by the return of of Manu Tuilagi, Toby Flood and Courtney Lawes, who are all in contention for selection after playing a full part in Aviva Premiership matches for their respective clubs – Leicester Tigers and Northampton Saints – this weekend.

Indeed, he admitted that choosing his match-day squad for the weekend will be a rather difficult process.

"I am delighted that they got 80 minutes each," Lancaster explained. "All three of those guys have had significant time out since the Rugby World Cup and, in order to play at the highest level, you need game time.

"Now, we obviously have decisions to make across the park, which will be partly be based on what happened last week in training, but also on the weekend after speaking to some of the club directors of rugby. There is this week, too.

"We have two training sessions tomorrow and we will obviously finalise our squad from there, taking into account our performance against Italy and what some of the guys did after coming on off the bench. That is part of the dynamic, as well as the three returning players. It is still early."

Turning to England’s next opponents, Warren Gatland’s Wales, Lancaster reiterated his respect for a side who have been improving rapidly and even earned a semi-final berth at this autumn’s Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.

"They have been impressive," he conceded. "They have also been fortunate in that they have been together for four or five years with the same coaches and the same systems. Having said that, results weren’t going their way as recently as 2010 – I think they won two and lost nine that year.

"As I have said before, no international team goes on a straight upwards curve – it’s about evolution. Wales have evolved in the right way and are certainly in good shape at the moment.

"Their defensive system is very good," Lancaster added. "They don’t put too many in the breakdown and have a lot of guys on their feet that get off the line very quickly. We will have to be good in attack."

After confirming that Gloucester Rugby wing Charlie Sharples will return to his club for treatment on a dead leg this week – effectively ruling him out of Saturday’s international – Lancaster outlined the arduous tests that the RBS 6 Nations has already posed:

"Every game in this tournament is hard. To go away to Murrayfield, where we’ve not won for eight years, was a tough start. Then, to deal with the Olympic Stadium in Rome, an emotional crowd and the snow was difficult.

"Now, Wales will present a challenge as well but we are looking forward to playing at Twickenham with a home crowd. It’s a big occasion for us. Hopefully, the crowd will get behind us and recognise what we are doing in terms of bringing the team forward.

"Any advantage you can get is important and playing a Twickenham, for us, is a significant one. It is going to be a big game and I am excited about it already."