England vs Ireland: Luther Burrell back in contention after Eddie Jones’ tough talking

Spare a thought for Luther Burrell, the England centre who played two full Six Nations campaigns with a fair degree of success before losing his place in the World Cup squad to Sam Burgess, who had played only two full halves of international union and had looked about as comfortable as a fish in a tree while doing it. Five months on, the Northampton midfielder finds himself in the middle of someone else’s personality cult.

Eddie Jones, the new red-rose coach, had nice things to say about Burrell yesterday after calling him into the training party for this weekend’s championship match with Ireland at Twickenham. Indeed, he described him as “the sort of player we want”, adding that he was under consideration for active duty on Saturday.

“I didn’t pick him in the squad in the first place because he wasn’t good enough to be in it,” continued the Australian. “He had flaws in his game and was making a lot of mistakes. But I spoke to him briefly and said there were things he had to look to do. He’s done that brilliantly and looks like he’s getting better every day. I think he’s bounced back exceptionally well, because what happened last year must have been difficult for him.”

But these remarks, along with an equally generous assessment of the uncapped Wasps centre Elliot Daly (who has been training at inside centre at the team base in Surrey even though he is an outside back by instinct and breeding), amounted to little more than a side issue. The main subject on the agenda was, inevitably, Manu Tuilagi and his immediate prospects of a return to Test rugby.

Very much a career outside centre before the long-term injury and simultaneous disciplinary hassle that removed him from the World Cup equation, the human bowling ball performed the inside role for Leicester in their defeat by Harlequins last Friday night. Although his performance was some way short of an unalloyed triumph – it might fairly be argued that he presented Quins with victory on a silver platter by fumbling the ball in the build-up to their crucial try – he strikes Jones as precisely the kind of No 12 required by England as they build towards the next global gathering in 2019.

“I’m not Manu’s club coach, so I don’t want to talk about him,” said Jones as a prelude to talking about him at some length. “Do I see him as a 12? I believe that’s his best position, yes.” What made him think that? “Well, I know what he isn’t, and that’s a No 13,” he replied. “He’s definitely a 12. He can carry the ball across the gain line, he threw a beautiful left-to-right pass on Friday night – although he also threw a terrible right-to-left one – and he has all the physical and athletic attributes. And while I haven’t seen him kick, there’s no reason he can’t learn. We have a reasonable kicking mentor here.”

That last comment was a reference to a bloke by the name of Wilkinson, who does some part-time specialist coaching when he can tear himself away from the supermarket – a location where Jonny-boy and Jones frequently commune, by all accounts. Should Tuilagi suddenly develop a kicking game, for which he has shown precisely no aptitude thus far, England might even have a red-rose answer to the double World Cup-winning All Black centre Ma’a Nonu.

Cynics will continue to scoff at the very idea, but this is plainly the midfield end-game as far as the coach is concerned. “My sense of him is that he’s a natural rugby player,” Jones said. “He might be missing some of the intricacies, but he has an understanding of the game.”

Twickenham will not bear witness to Tuilagi’s return this weekend – the fourth-round meeting with Wales at the same venue a fortnight later is the earliest point at which he will roll into Six Nations view – so Jones must decide between Burrell, Daly and the Exeter newcomer Sam Hill as bench cover for Owen Farrell against Ireland. He also has decisions to make in all three rows of the scrum, where Mako Vunipola and Joe Marler continue to contest the loose-head prop position, Joe Launchbury is piling pressure on Courtney Lawes at lock and the much talked about Maro Itoje is putting himself forward as a viable alternative to Chris Robshaw at blind-side flanker.

Ireland could well have Cian Healy and Mike Ross, their first-choice props, back in the starting line-up for the trip to London, and they are confident that Jonathan Sexton, the best outside-half in Europe, will recover from the all-over body assault he suffered in the narrow defeat by France in Paris. There are, however, concerns over the centre Jared Payne, who has a hamstring injury, and while the wing Craig Gilroy, the lock Dave Foley and the back-rower Jordi Murphy have been added to the squad, the casualty list shows no sign of shortening.

Scotland, who face Italy in Rome on Saturday, will definitely be without the wing Sean Maitland and the flanker Blair Cowan, although Peter Horne and Tim Visser are available for selection in the back line. Wales, meanwhile, have yet to learn whether the centre Jonathan Davies and the lock Luke Charteris will be fit for their important set-to with France in Cardiff on Friday night.