The 2015 Rugby World Cup sees England back to compete on home turf for the biggest prize in Rugby Union with an expectant crowd watching on, hoping for the side of 2015 to emulate the team of 2003.
England have a good record at World Cups, although the 2011 tournament is best forgotten as England embarrassed themselves on and off the pitch. They have reached the final of the World Cup three times, although they have only won the tournament once before with that memorable victory in Australia in 2003.
The last time England were principal hosts along with Ireland and France, they were runners-up having been beaten in the final by Australia. Although, in 1999, England did host a few games as part of the agreement for Wales to become principal hosts, although this tournament was less successful for England as they departed at the quarter-final stage.
For England to win the World Cup on home soil, they first need to overcome Australia, Wales, Uruguay and Fiji and ensure they finish in the top two in order to progress from the group.
And the hosts have arguably been placed in the toughest group, with Australia and Wales providing fierce competition and Fiji being no pushovers either, yet Uruguay should not provide England with any difficulty. But the last time England met Wales in the Six Nations earlier this year, England managed to come away with a victory winning 21-16.
England’s 2015 has been mixed, as despite some good performances in the Six Nations they only came second as despite victory against France in their last game, Ireland’s superior points difference meant that for the fourth successive tournament England finished in second place. England’s warm-up matches which conclude with a game against Ireland this weekend at Twickenham, has seen a victory and defeat against France at home and away respectively.
When Stuart Lancaster announced his 31-man squad for the World Cup on August 27, many were surprised to see the omission of fly-half Danny Cipriani having performed well when he came on as a sub in the second half during the defeat to France the previous weekend.
Bath centre Sam Burgess was also in the squad, despite not perhaps meeting the standards that had been set by pundits and fans alike following his move into Rugby Union from Rugby League last November. Ex-England captain Will Carling has criticized the selection of Burgess in the World Cup squad. Speaking at the launch of Heineken’s World Cup advertising campaign he said: “He’s been playing Union for 10 months and half of that was in a different position to what England are playing him in”.
Also in Lancaster’s squad, there was no place for Luther Burrell despite the centre playing a majority of England’s recent Six Nations campaign. Brad Barritt, Jonathon Joseph and Henry Slade are England’s options at centre alongside Burgess. Captain Chris Robshaw is joined as part of the back row by England’s most capped player in the squad James Haskell, Ben Morgan, Billy Vunipola and Tom Wood. There have also been a couple of high-profile omissions from the forwards with Alex Corbisiero and Dave Atwood missing out. Mike Brown is included after missing a large part of 2015 due to head injuries suffered against Italy in the Six Nations.
It’s incredibly hard to predict how England will fare in this World Cup. They are not favourites to win the World Cup, that pressure falls to current holders New Zealand, but England are still expected to do well. However, England have an incredibly tough group and they will need to get through that before they can think about emulating the 2003 World Cup winning team. The two key games for England will be the fixtures against Wales and Australia on the September 26 and October 3 respectively.
If England can get through the group then who knows what they will be able to achieve with a passionate home crowd cheering them on desperate for success. Will Lancaster’s team emulate the 2003 team and be the side lifting the famous World Cup trophy on October 31 or will they fall short of achieving glory as they have done often under Lancaster with four second-placed finishes in the Six Nations Championship under his tenure. Or will they crash out in the group stages in a worst case scenario?
We will see when England kick off their campaign against Fiji on September 18.
