Joseph has been arguably England’s standout player in 2015 and he played the whole of the 35-11 win over Fiji last Friday night.
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England backs coach Andy Farrell revealed that Joseph’s fitness would be determined one way or another by Wednesday.
“We will give him every chance to put on an England shirt at the weekend”.
“It’s something and nothing”.
“We’ve been watching Japan for a long time and we always knew they were an exceptional side”, said Taylor. If he is not fit it will not be more than a week anyway.
The 24-year-old’s absence would come as a huge blow to Lancaster because the Bath man is a key component of his side’s attacking gameplan.
Centre Sam Burgess and fly-half Owen Farrell are reportedly in line to start for England in their Pool A fixture against Wales, replacing Jonathan Joseph and George Ford.
Farrell also confirmed that Ben Morgan took a knock to his knee, but he expects the number eight to be fine. But nothing significant. JJ [Joseph] has a bit of a knock, nothing too serious. “For us it is brilliant because they can all do it and they are pushing each other to do it”.
“It will be a shame to miss JJ, but we will see how it progresses now with the medics”, said Barritt.
“We are 100 per cent confident and comfortable with everyone, to have a proper good global team that can do the business”.
Burgess impressed as a final-quarter replacement against Fiji when his direct running helped restore momentum to a team that was drifting, but starting against a Welsh centre combination including Jamie Roberts would be a big ask.
But Farrell said: “Everyone is so intrigued by selection because we’re in a great position”.
Luther Burrell, who started all five of this year’s Six Nations matches alongside Joseph, was left out of the squad, but fly-half Owen Farrell can deputise in midfield.
“Everyone was right behind us all the way through against Fiji”.
“Everyone’s been look forward to this for years now”. Predictions and form can go out of the window. In 2013 we won in the Millennium Stadium quite well and since then we haven’t beaten England and people quickly forget that.
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Warren Gatland may be forgiven for not expressing too much sympathy for Lancaster’s personnel issues with Wales now experiencing something of an injury crisis. What does count is that England are playing in white and we are playing in our home dressing at Twickenham.
