There is a certain symbolism attached to the set of rugby posts currently to be found standing at the heart of the Football Association's gleaming new training centre at St George's Park. Two hundred club rugby coaches are also descending on Wednesday to complete the oval-ball takeover. If ever there was a moment for England's rugby union players to entice a few disillusioned soccer fans and revive the warm glow of Olympic patriotism, this is it.
Stuart Lancaster, England's head coach, is certainly up for the challenge. Even an unscheduled 5am fire alarm failed to dilute his evident relish for the task ahead. His honeymoon period is pretty much over, however, and beating Fiji, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand over consecutive Saturdays will also require better luck than he enjoyed last weekend. While every international coach expects to lose a couple of players on a busy Premiership weekend, Lancaster is suddenly surveying a first-choice XV with a number of potential holes in it.
The certain absence against Fiji of Dylan Hartley and Courtney Lawes could yet be further magnified if Joe Marler and Jonathan Joseph fail to recover swiftly from hamstring and ankle problems respectively. This, potentially, could lead to England starting their autumn programme with two uncapped players in their front-row in Tom Youngs and Mako Vunipola, an interesting way to kick off a crucial four weeks at Twickenham.
Fiji will have particularly noted the throwing problems Youngs endured at Gloucester last weekend and the only other fit hooker in the squad is David Paice, capped twice as a replacement four years ago. As well as underlining Hartley's importance to the squad, it makes a mess of the management's impact bench plans, but the coach remains confident the Leicester player, a converted centre, will come good when it counts.
"I actually think his ability to move on from an error in his game is one of his strengths," said Lancaster, who will not finalise his starting XV until next Thursday. "He's incredibly tough mentally and he recognises the challenge ahead of him. Even when he made the switch from centre to hooker he realised the first thing people would scrutinise would be his lineout throwing."
The list of players returning to their clubs, however, reveals another side to Lancaster. Ben Morgan may have had a good game for Gloucester against Leicester at the weekend but England want more consistency from the big No8 and have told him so. "It was a decision based on a message to Ben about backing up his performances. We've given him some areas to work on and this is a chance for him to repeat it against Harlequins this weekend."
Thomas Waldrom, as a result, is now the strong favourite to start against Fiji, with Danny Care behind him at scrum-half, although Lancaster insists nothing is settled. "Both of them have been told pretty clearly we aren't deciding who starts until next Monday or Tuesday." In the case of Ben Youngs, his lack of rugby this season is behind his release for the Tigers' weekend game against Northampton.
Stitch all the various nudges and winks together and it would seem Lancaster would ideally prefer to stick with the side which battled to a 10-10 draw in the final Test against South Africa in Port Elizabeth in June. Exeter's Tom Johnson, therefore, is likely to be retained with Alex Goode pencilled in at full-back, but Joseph's ankle issue may well prevent him continuing his still-developing centre partnership with Manu Tuilagi.
Marler also took no part in training but Lancaster continues to insist it was merely a precaution. For the moment at least, he is not dwelling on Vunipola's starting prospects: "It is a hypothetical question because I think Marler will be fit. All the medical information is that he'll be good for Monday."
The management will certainly hope so. The desire to ensure a place in the top four of the world rankings ahead of December's Rugby World Cup pool draw leaves little margin for error and Lancaster knows expectations are rising.
"Are we the fourth-best team in the world? I guess we'll know that at the end of the next four weeks. The measuring stick is that we're playing four games at home and we want to win all four but three of our opponents have spent a long time together. That's crucial in a team's development. I've felt scrutiny and pressure from the start; every day you feel it but we're definitely moving in the right direction."
