RugbyWrap: D-Day or Dunkirk for Reigning World Champions?

So, it's judgment day for England and it's pretty clear what the strategy is: same as Samoa. Get some bustle going, kick the corners, take your opportunities and make sure they don't get a head of steam up with the ball in hand. The excellent Shaun Edwards underlines that in the Guardian by pointing to England's selection of Borthwick and Moody, and Tonga's replacement of lock Paino Hehea with flanker Viliami Vaki. The Tongans lost a third of their own ball on the throw, so they'll be keener than ever to get into England.

No one has really mentioned that it's a balancing act for fly half Pierre Hola; if he kicks too little, England are enough of a team to roll on the pressure in the Tongan 22, and the Samoa proves shows that they can score as welll as most. If he kicks too much, he'll neutralise Tonga - or the Pacific Islands' - greatest asset, ie. a large number of hefty, quick blokes who love taking the ball into contact against smaller backs. Luckily for Finau Maka and Paddy Power - the man who used to be called Epi Taione - England captain Cozza has given them a big signpost: "our attacking game is down to Jonny Wilkinson and Olly Barkley". Nice one Coz! And if they miss Wilko and Barkley, there's always Mat Tait to have a pop at.

Brian Ashton concedes that it was a close call between Tait and Hipkiss for the outside centre shirt; Hipkiss must be so off the boil now that you don't know what sort of form he's in. Gunner Clive gives a nice little bit of insight into what sort of issues go on in selectors' minds and has an opinion on the Vickery v Stevens question, and others; love him or, let's be honest, sort of loathe him, he's one of the game's real thinkers.

The Tongans look to be in the frame of mind that suggests divine inspiration: Nili Latu says that "this is the best Tonga team [we have] ever put out". Not for the Tongans any fragile laager mentality, any locking themselves away and not disturbing mental balances: they were full steam ahead dying their hair green to promote their association with - you've guessed it - Paddy Power, but the IRB said that it was overstepping the mark. You have to laugh; with all the money-grubbing antics going on at the IRB, including the stringent clamping down on replaying of World Cup coverage until a manky knock-off DVD comes out, it's entirely legitimate for the Tongans to get sponsorship. In fact, Tonga are pretty PO'd that they haven't been paid appearance money - a whole £150,000 - in full yet. That's probably half of what the grandees of the Rugby Board run up in air fares every year.

Wales have their own Pacific showdown this weekend and Colin Charvis is going into boxing cliché mode: he says that "Wales must beat Fiji to the punch", "get the first one in", and "Adriaaaaaaaaaaaaan!". OK, the last one is made up, but it's probably going to be a fighty one; remember the England v Wales warm-up and any Welsh side with Charvis, Alfie, Popham and a selection of ugly buggers up front knows how to apply the biff. Wales should have too much for Fiji in the same structured way that England are a 'better' side than Tonga, but it's knock-out rugby and all it takes is one sucker punch. Ah, damn it, we're doing it too! But at least you get a gratuitous video of the funniest KO in history, courtesy of Herol "The Bomber" Graham.

The rest of the media coverage today seems to be about coaches defending players, players defending themselves against accusations real or imagined that they're rubbish. Andre Pretorius has his coach's backing, despite not being able to kick properly; Scrumbag has a boot and the way that he was striking the ball last week, ie. like a 'soccerball goaltender', was ugly. Welsh winger Mark Jones wishes he "had had a bit more ball in open space", which is code for "Jesus, Shane's just so much better than me, isn't he?". And the Peel v Phillips debate rumbles on in Wales with as much energy as Hatton v Mayweather.

Injury news: Neil Best seems to be OK after a scare over a cardiac incident when he lost feeling down one side of his body - how many heart scares have there been this year already? - 'Sandro Troncon leads Italy against Scotland with Marco Bortolami out, and as a sort of reverse injury story, Keith Robinson is finally getting a game for the All Blacks.