“Former Ireland back Gordon D’Arcy is proving significantly more incisive in print than he ever was on the field”, wrote Steve Dean in the article entitled “World’s Cup: Doomsday scenario for Wales”.
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“He shored up that midfield for the England team”.
Many people are tracking the progress of England’s Sam Burgess at this World Cup, not least fellow Rugby League convert Sonny Bill Williams.
Gordon D’Arcy has given a damning verdict of Sam Burgess’ display in England’s Rugby World Cup clash with Wales, stating that his “naivety” during Saturday’s defeat at Twickenham could cost the hosts a place in the quarter-finals.
D’Arcy, a Test player for 16 years who was capped once by the British and Irish Lions, believes a way must be found for Steffon Armitage to join the squad, questions why Luther Burrell was not among the final 31 and insists Henry Slade should have a bigger role.
In contrast D’Arcy stated “Sam Burgess only arrived at a Bath training session last October”.
According to Mr D’Arcy, Burgess’ “naivety embarrassed those around him and severely damaged England’s chances of reaching the quarter-finals”.
D’Arcy’s detailed analysis of England’s defeat to Wales in his Irish Times column, and in particular the role of rugby league convert Sam Burgess, has been a major talking point.
“But now he’s playing centre he’s got to read the situations and read the decoy runners going through, and that’s where he got caught out a couple of times last week”.
“By then the Burgess experiment had been abandoned because the England coaching team accepted, long after everyone else, that he had no idea what was happening around him”.
D’Arcy said All Blacks second-five Ma’a Nonu was “absolutely phenomenal” at attacking.
‘All Burgess did was run straight in search of collisions with Jamie Roberts (who obliged but really conned him most of the time).
“When Burgess played in the NRL he was so effective because everything was pre-ordained”.
Lancaster has always talked about the importance of showing loyalty to his players, but with a critical match coming up against the Wallabies on Sunday morning, the 2014 Clive Churchill medallist is likely to find himself back on the bench.
But D’Arcy felt Australia had their own problems with enigmatic first-five Quade Cooper.
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England’s tournament hopes were cast into serious doubt after the Welsh reverse, but they know a victory in the do-or-die clash with Australia on Saturday night could revive their ambitions.
