England’s assistant coach, Richard Wigglesworth, has clarified that Saturday’s England team to play Wales in Cardiff will not serve as a definitive “selection shootout.”
While reports suggest a possible center partnership of Manu Tuilagi and Ollie Lawrence, Wigglesworth stated that they won’t approach the match solely with selection in mind, as it may not allow players to perform at their best.
Fly-half Marcus Smith might not even find a spot on the bench, with George Ford likely to be among the replacements.
Wigglesworth emphasized that the focus is on giving the players the best chance to perform well on the weekend, rather than purely evaluating their suitability for the final squad.
He said: “If we go into a game [with that attitude] then we are not giving the players the best chance of playing well.
“We all know players will be feeling selection is coming up, and that is huge for them, and it should be huge for them because you get to play for England at a Rugby World Cup.
“But we want to give them the best chance to play well at the weekend.
“We have a pretty good idea of what we want [as the final squad], and those conversations have been ongoing for a long time.”
England is scheduled to play four matches this month, including a return fixture against Wales at Twickenham, a showdown with Ireland in Dublin, and a match against Fiji back at Twickenham on 26 August.
Prop Will Stuart, who is also expected to start, views the upcoming game as an opportunity to showcase the hard work and progress made during the eight weeks of pre-season preparation.
The team aims to make a statement and demonstrate their readiness to compete at the highest level.
“It’s the first chance for us to show people what we have been working on, and how hard we have been working,” Stuart told BBC Sport.
“It’s a chance to put a marker down and that is a big thing for this group, to show people we are at the races.”
Wales team to play England:
Leigh Halfpenny; Louis Rees-Zammit, George North, Max Llewellyn, Rio Dyer; Sam Costelow, Gareth Davies; Corey Domachowski, Ryan Elias, Keiron Assiratti, Dafydd Jenkins, Will Rowlands, Christ Tshiunza, Jac Morgan (capt), Aaron Wainwright.
Replacements: Elliot Dee, Nicky Smith, Henry Thomas, Ben Carter, Taine Plumtree, Tomos Williams, Dan Biggar, Mason Grady.
Expected England team to play Wales:
15. Freddie Steward
14. Cadan Murley
13. Ollie Lawrence
12. Manu Tuilagi
11. Henry Arundell
10. Owen Farrell
