It is all about Wales this week, in theory, but even England’s attack coach, Richard Wigglesworth, admits there is an elephant in the dressing room. On Saturday night in Cardiff, Steve Borthwick and his England assistants will sit down and play their final game of selection poker before Monday’s official Rugby World Cup squad announcement. There will inevitably be winners and losers, one or two of them familiar names.
If the process is marginally less fraught, with 33 players now permitted instead of the previous 31, it does not lessen the thrill for those chosen or the despair for those omitted. Borthwick knows both emotions, having missed the cut in 2003 after training with the wider squad all summer. It explains his desire to be as upfront with the current crop as he possibly can.
