Wales out to ‘smash’ Burgess, England
Wales will not single out centre Sam Burgess for special attention, but will try to “smash” him along with the other England players.
|||London - Wales will not single out centre Sam Burgess for special attention, but will try to “smash” him along with the other England players in the Rugby World Cup Pool A showdown on Saturday.
League convert Burgess was a surprise inclusion in the England side for the game at Twickenham after playing less than two hours of international rugby union.
“We won't be trying to single out Sam Burgess at all,” Wales coach Warren Gatland told reporters on Friday.
“We will be going out there to smash him like everyone else.”
Burgess finished his league career by leading the South Sydney Rabbitohs to victory in last year's NRL grand final, the showpiece game of Australian rugby league.
“He's got inexperience at rugby union but not at big occasions,” Gatland added.
“We're not rubbing our hands together about one player thinking there's a weakness there - that is not the way we look at it.”
Wales, with five points, currently top Pool A on points-scored difference from England, with Australia a point behind in third. The top two nations will progress to the knockout stages, meaning one of the teams currently ranked, two, three and four in the world will not progress. – Reuters