Burgess will get smashed, says Gatland

THE gunpowder was kept dry in t he Welsh camp as Warren Gatland steered away from jibes about the i nexperience of England centre Sam Burgess.

Rather than singling out t he l eague convert f or special treatment, Gatland claimed his players will respect the union rookie and set out to ‘smash him’ like any other Red Rose player.

The Kiwi yesterday named Jamie Roberts and Scott Williams in the Wales centres, but dismissed suggestions they would look to exploit Burgess as a weak link.

‘He’s got inexperience at rugby union but not at big occasions,’ said Gatland.

‘He’s a big man at 6ft 5in. You don’t single out anyone personally and we won’t single out Sam Burgess.

‘We’ll go out to smash him like everyone else. We’re not rubbing our hands together thinking, “There’s a weakness t here.” When you underestimate a player, it comes back to bite you.’

After l osing Jonathan Joseph to injury, England attempted to second-guess Wales’s selection and named Burgess in between No 10 Owen Farrell and centre Brad Barritt. It is a move that will increase England’s physicality, moving away from the fast footwork that left Wales unstuck during the Six Nations.

‘What’s caused us problems with England has been footwork,’ said Gatland.

‘Joseph has caused us a lot of problems at centre, while Anthony Watson and Jonny May are great finishers as well. They’re a threat. I’m not sure Burgess and Barritt have the same footwork. They’re more direct and have that physical element that’s required at this level.

‘England talk about taking teams to a “kill zone” and you have to be able to match that intensity for 80 minutes.

‘In the Six Nations we were comfortable for 40 minutes, then England blew us away. We were dragged i nto a game we didn’t want to play and we need to make sure we don’t do that.’

Gatland has s el ected international rookies of his own for tomorrow’s meeting at Twickenham. Scrum-half Gareth Davies, winger Hallam Amos — picked ahead of misfiring Lions star Alex Cuthbert — and prop Tomas Francis have just six Test starts between them, but have all been named in Wales’ starting XV.

Yorkshire-born Francis was playing in the English second division in 2014, having been s nubbed by Red Rose coaches throughout his career. He was an overweight 24st prop for Leeds University second XV during the last World Cup, but will make his first tournament start amid fitness concerns over Samson Lee.

‘ My conditioning and fitness have come on massively,’ said Francis. ‘ There were some dark days during the fitness training in Qatar, but the boys got me through it. I never dreamt a year ago that I would be playing in the World Cup against England at Twickenham.

‘The front five is where they will try to take us on, and is where the game will be won and lost. But the scrum has been a weapon for us. We’ve had a few referees in our scrummaging sessions and we’ll have to dig in.’

While facing England will be a new experience for Francis, it has become common practice for skipper Sam Warburton. The 56-cap flanker has faced England seven times during his career, but insists this weekend’s Pool A meeting promises to be the biggest of the lot.

‘You know it’s coming — it’ s a huge game,’ said Warburton. ‘It’s one of the biggest Wal e s versus England games in history.

‘I r ead t here i s more demand for these tickets than there are f or f i nal tickets. That makes it hit home how big it is.

‘Unless we meet again in the final, you never know, this will be the biggest game I’ve played in.’