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England head coach Stuart Lancaster believes their World Cup chances have been boosted after several fringe stars helped them beat Wales in the Six Nations.
Injuries to key players had left the Red Rose side far from full strength but stars like Jonathan Joseph, who scored for England in the 21-16 victory, proved Lancaster has strength in depth.
And he feels, should his group not pick up anymore injuries, they could find themselves in an excellent position ahead of the World Cup later in the year.
“To win World Cups you need 31 players,” he told Full Contact. “There are very few teams who go through a World Cup with the same starting 15 or same 23 on a week-to-week basis over a seven week World Cup. You want a strong squad with two high quality players in every position.
“Taking James Haskell as an example along with Tom Wood; Tom Wood was brilliant for us against Australia and has played exceptionally for Northampton since but a bit of an ankle injury saw James Haskell come in and he had a great game. It’s a great position to be in.”
And Lancaster has revealed he is unlikely to make too many changes to the side which defeated Wales as they face Italy on Saturday.
He added: “We have got one or two players coming back in but I don’t think there will be too many changes on the back of that performance.
“You want to give the lads that played well another opportunity to build up on that performance and back it up.”
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