England vs Wales: Wyn Jones fears Burgess could be a central figure

Union convert: Sam Burgess comes into a rejigged midfield
Matt Majendie @mattmajendie24 September 2015

Alun Wyn Jones has warned his Wales team-mates that Sam Burgess will be no weak link in the England midfield when the two sides line up at Twickenham on Saturday.

England coach Stuart Lancaster has made the surprise call to start the union convert in a rejigged midfield following the absence of Jonathan Joseph with a chest injury, with Burgess heading up a centre partnership at a World Cup despite his union inexperience.

Burgess is just 11 months into his tenure in the game and has played most of his matches for club employers Bath in the back row, switching to centre at international level where he has had just one Test start.

Jones said: “The easy answer would be to say, ‘yes we could exploit his inexperience’ but the actual answer is ‘no’. People forget the rugby experience he has and there is a lot of crossover particularly in the centre.

“He has that huge off-load threat and is quite a large man as well so I am sure that will play to his advantage.

“There are a few strings to their bow and it’s not just about damage limitation from their point of view.

“We can’t really talk about their selection. Whatever England side is selected is going to be physical.”

Lancaster has opted for a full U-turn in his selections, moving George Ford to the bench and starting with Owen Farrell at fly-half, with Burgess and Brad Barritt outside him, a physical midfield aimed at silencing Wales’ big men.

Of the threat that triple axis provides, Jones said: “If that is the selection they go for, then Farrell can play a bit and we know about the Burgess offload threat as well.”

Jones returns to the Wales starting line-up for the first time since injuring his knee in the 16-10 warm-up win against Ireland in Dublin.

Despite training fully for the last 10 days, it was decided not to risk him in the opening 54-9 victory against Uruguay but he was adamant he would be fully fit for the challenge of England at the weekend.

“I don’t think I’d be standing here if I had any injury worries, so I’m all good,” added Jones.

Like England, Wales have not been without their injury problems, with Cory Allen cut from the squad with a hamstring injury and other doubts in the lead-up to the England match.

But Jones said he was confident that he and his team-mates would bounce back for what is effectively a must-win game.

“We have our own demons to overcome, whether it be the injuries or about performances,” he said. “We will look at ourselves before anyone else.”

Tyler Morgan has been brought in to replace Allen, making the 20-year-old the youngest member of the Welsh squad.

Despite his inexperience at Test level, Morgan is chomping at the bit to feature at the tournament.

He said: “I’d love to be part of this World Cup.

“When I found out I wasn’t in the original squad, that was very bad for me but you have to get positive again the next day because you’re on standby if someone goes down. I got the call on Sunday and joined up with the squad on Monday morning.”

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