New England centre Sam Burgess risked adding fuel to the fire ahead of a key World Cup clash by replying "Who?" when told Wales counterpart Scott Williams would rather face him than Jonathan Joseph at Twickenham on Saturday.

A chest injury suffered in tournament hosts England's opening 35-11 win over Fiji has ruled the fleet-footed Joseph out of this weekend's match and led to the call-up of the more direct and physical Burgess.

Williams, who scored one of the great Twickenham tries to seal a 19-12 win over England three years ago that helped Wales to a Six Nations Grand Slam, suggested on Wednesday he would rather defend against Burgess than the rugby league convert's Bath team-mate Joseph.

When this point was put to Burgess on Thursday, the England man told reporters at the squad's training base in Bagshot, south-west of London: "Who's that? Oh yes. Okay, yes. I will just wait and see. I will just let my performance do the talking on Saturday."

Now it may have been that Burgess didn't hear the question in the cavernous tent that is the media centre in the grounds of the Pennyhill Park Hotel and it may be simply that he had forgotten Williams' name.

But there are bound to be those in Wales, if not in the Wales squad, who see Burgess's comments as something of a put-down and an echo of the time when then England wing Ben Cohen said "Shane who?" when answering a question about Wales' record try-scorer Shane Williams ahead of an international at Twickenham.

When Burgess's remarks were put to Sam Warburton later Thursday, the Wales captain said: "I don't blame Sam Burgess for that (seemingly not knowing who Scott Williams is).

"When I play against teams there are times when I don't know who each of the opposition are."

However, Burgess was in no doubt about the identity of the other member of Wales' midfield duo, British and Irish Lions centre Jamie Roberts.  

"Jamie's a great player, very big and dominant. I'm looking forward to the battle," said Burgess.

"Like I said, I will just let my performance do the talking on Saturday. I don't want to make any bold predictions. But I will be ready on Saturday."
Source: AFP