Burgess has been omitted from the starting XV and bench as the hosts enter the death throes of a tournament that effectively ended for them with last Saturday’s defeat.
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The former Mounts Bay Academy student has represented England at under-18, under 20 level and most notably scored in the IRB Junior World Cup final win in 2013.
However from the outset Lancaster has maintained that he recognised the Bath player as a centre, not as a blind side flanker, where Burgess has played his best rugby.
Exeter Chiefs’ stars Henry Slade and Jack Nowell have been picked to start for England in their final Rugby World Cup pool match, against Uruguay on Saturday.
Whether it is fair to point the finger of blame at coach Stuart Lancaster is a matter of debate as he was limited by his predecessors’ selections.
“He said to me “I know I am a six”.
Yesterday, Lancaster confirmed he wants a “couple of weeks” to consider his future and on Monday Standard Sport revealed the RFU did not want him to quit before the World Cup Final because they feared it would overshadow the tournament. “Bath will be delighted to have him back and I can’t see anything changing in that regard”.
However, bookmakers Sky Bet announced they had closed their book on Burgess, born in Dewsbury near Leeds, returning to league with the treble-chasing Rhinos. “He’s always been a number six for us, no question”.
Asked about his tournament regrets, he said: “We lost the Wales game from being 22-12 up – we shouldn’t have been in a position where we ended up losing that game so that will be a regret”.
Lancaster fronted up to the media once again as the fallout from England’s defeat by Australia and elimination continued. “Now we have so many ball players in our backline we’re wondering who is going to carry the ball!”
Assessing the trio’s performance, Foley said: “It’s a lot easier than when you don’t have them”.
Lancaster has a contract with England until 2020 and says he will take a full part in the post-World Cup review with the aim of making improvements.
Britain’s Prince Harry thinks it’ll be “fantastic” if Japan win the Rugby World Cup.
“You need big strong characters and in the old days you had Dawson, Lawrence, Jonno, Mike Catt, Will Greenwood, all these players mentally could make decisions on the field”.
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“I’ve had feedback from players who have worked with Andy outside of England who are British and Irish Lions and they found him to be an outstanding coach, person and leader”.
