Several English players have displayed minimal performance this month, raising doubts about their suitability for inclusion in the World Cup squad.
Head coach Steve Borthwick retains a brief window of a few days before he finalizes his squad submission to World Rugby. This implies that there is still potential for alterations to the ultimate 33-man roster.
Outlined below are five players who underperformed against Ireland. Additionally, we assess the potential candidates, based on their merits, who could take their places in the squad.
#1. Billy Vunipola
Telegraph 2/10: “Spilled a clearance kick, to the delight of Dublin. His head shot on Andrew Porter was inevitably upgraded to a red by the bunker. Another ban looms, as does a crisis at No.8 for Borthwick. “
Rugby Pass 0/10: “Having failed to sparkle seven days earlier, a huge step forward in performance was needed. It didn’t happen, his day ending with a red card via the TMO bunker. Borthwick claims Vunipola is as fit as he has ever seen him but that S&C didn’t emerge in this display where he looked leggy getting around despite being level with Genge at the short whistle on the pack ball-carrying metres. Two penalty concessions and a cheap knock-on that generated jeers from the home crowd highlight his first half difficulties. Sent packing for his yellow-carded shot on Andrew Porter 13 minutes into the second half, an incident soon upgraded to red due to “high degree of danger, no wrap, no mitigation”.”
Evening Standard 3/10: “The difficulty of avoiding high tackles basically does not matter any more. This is the reality and players have to adapt, and fast, or end up letting their teams down.”
REPLACEMENT: Zach Mercer, who should have been in the squad anyway