In-depth: England's team to face Wales: Stuart Lancaster's greatest gamble or a logical masterstoke?

Stuart Lancaster has chosen to bring in Owen Farrell for George Ford at fly-half and to start with Sam Burgess alongside Brad Barritt in a power-packed midfield.

The selection was described as "astonishing" by former captain Will Carling, while many other critics suggesting that it was a depressing move, with the creative Ford sidelined in favour of Farrell.

The coach, however, was unfazed by the columnists bile and the barrage of questions from the media.

We'll get to that later - first, the harshest of the critics.

"After running the show all year at 10, we come to 'the' crunch game & drop Ford? He ran the show when we beat Wales in Cardiff so it can't be a defensive decision. I'm at a loss to find any reason at all. This decision was flagged with comments prior to England's last warm up game, & it seems some faces will always be accommodated in this set up, whilst others have to constantly fight every game'"- former England captain Will Carling

"Former England fly-half Toby Flood has warned that Ford’s relegation to the bench through no fault of his own could leave the 22-year-old psychologically scarred, claiming he has every right to feel 'pretty devastated'. There are also misgivings over Burgess’s readiness to start a Test of this magnitude at inside centre, particularly given he will be facing British and Irish Lions veteran Jamie Roberts. Burgess has spent only 10 months in union and while he has big-game experience in league, he is still learning his trade in the new code and any lapses in defensive positioning are sure to be exposed by Roberts." - The Guardian

"England embrace the new game plan, the new back division, the new way forward. Stuart Lancaster, the England head coach, has staked his reputation on it working. He had gone with an attacking game plan based around George Ford since November last year. Now, he has got two days to perfect something new. The haste seems indecent, though, but if it works against Wales at Twickenham on Saturday, Lancaster will have pulled off a masterstroke... England, however, find it mighty hard to switch game plan on the hoof. And they have a replacement No 10, in Ford, who is unsettled and astonished to have been dropped in this way. So there is more uncertainty now, less cohesion. More pieces to fall into place at the right time. Lancaster has made England’s job more complicated; he is indeed a master if he can make it work." - The Times

"George Ford was shocked and left 'devastated and gutted' by Stuart Lancaster’s decision to drop him to the England bench for the game against Wales at Twickenham on Saturday, pushing his case to be ­included in the side... The decision to drop the player is the single most contentious selection call made by Lancaster since he took over in the wake of the 2011 Rugby World Cup and one ­freighted with potential consequences." - The Telegraph

"Is putting an in-form Owen Farrell into the team a risk? No. We're lucky to have two world class flyhalves," said Lancaster of his selection at number 10.

"George was fantastic in the Six Nations but since the Premiership final when he was man of the match (playing against Ford), Owen has been pushing very hard.

"There's definitely no panic. It's all about the 23 and it's not as if we're bringing in a player with no experience.

"We've picked a team to give us the best chance of getting a foothold in the game and George will potentially play a different role off the bench."

[MATCH PREVIEW: England v Wales: Key info for crunch Pool A clash]

Lancaster was similarly bullish about picking Burgess, a recent convert from rugby league.

"It is not a gamble. People said it was a gamble to put him in the 31-man squad but day by day, week by week, he is proving people wrong," he said.

"In full-on games in training he's had to defend against Jonathan Joseph, Henry Slade and Brad and I've watched him day in, day out doing that.

"I'm certain he can deal with the big game experience and I'm certain he can carry the ball over the gain line.

"My confidence in him has grown. We scored two tries at the end of the Fiji game and they were a lot to do with Owen and Sam."

"We were expecting that they were going to go for the same team so it threw us for a couple of days," said Wales coach Warren Gatland.

"At the moment we wouldn't mind the same dilemma of having that quality of choice because they've got some world-class players."

Wales captain Sam Warburton was less surprised, saying that he was expecting Lancaster to use Burgess during the World Cup.

"I knew they were going to use him at some point," he said. "He's played some huge matches in (rugby) league. He's a superb athlete with bags of talent."

Lancaster added further explanation, admitting that his selections were shaped partly by the way Wales play, with marauding centre Jamie Roberts at the heart of much of their attacking threat and with their very wide approach to defence.

"Wales have a very specific defensive system. It's hard to break down and there is very little space on the wings," he said.

"We've had some success going through them. We were too lateral at times against Fiji and last November it was the same against Australia and South Africa until we went back to what we're good at.

"But don't assume because of the squad we've picked all we're going to do is route one, up our jumpers. There has to be some subtlety in there as Wales are too good to break down that way."

Clive Woodward, the coach who became a national icon after guiding England to glory at the 2003 World Cup, had a balance view.

"Owen Farrell is a hard-as-nails player with a big-match temperament and close to his best form again. I have said before that he has been challenging for the starting spot at No 10. Sam Burgess also has a physical presence that could be useful against Jamie Roberts and co," he said in his Daily Mail column.

"There is no such thing as a wrong selection if it gets the desired result. My concern would be that by swapping the creativity of Ford at 10 and the potent threat of Joseph at 13 for two much more physical and direct players, England could be reducing the effectiveness of their back three — probably the team’s strongest unit.

"Burgess prefers the pop pass or off-load out of contact so England’s wings will need to be aware of that. They have only played alongside him in one Test.

"When you have injuries it’s often best to keep other changes to a minimum. Henry Slade is certainly the nearest like-for-like player England have for Joseph and his selection would have been the call that minimised the changes. But the result is what matters and I believe whatever midfield England opt for they will beat Wales."

Lancaster's call is perfectly defensible, and the outcry against it has bordered on the ludicrous. For a match that is expect to be enormously tight, Farrell is a good choice - a safe pair of hands, and a superb goal kicker. And if anyone can stop Jamie Roberts, it's probably going to be Burgess. England have enough attacking firepower elsewhere in the side - notably in Mike Brown - to score when the chances present themselves anyway, so the loss of Ford's extra creativity seems a sound compromise.

Don't just take our word for it, however: no less an authority than Ian McGeechan said it was a "logical" selection in his Telegraph column, pointing out that Farrell and Burgess "immediately brought a directness that England had been lacking" against Fiji on their introduction.