Sam Burgess ruffled a few feathers in England’s press conference on Thursday by claiming not to know who Wales centre Scott Williams was.

Williams reportedly said earlier that he would rather play against Burgess than his fellow Bath centre Jonathan Joseph, who misses the game on Saturday with a chest injury.

When questioned about Williams’s words, Burgess replied with a smirk: “who’s that?”

As the questioner explained to former Rugby League man Burgess exactly who Williams is, the Dewsbury-born back continued to try and surpress a laugh before delivering a typical sportsman’s response.

“I’ll just let my performance do the talking on Saturday,” he said.

The jibe is likely to stoke a few fires in the Welsh camp, not that either side need any more encouragement to put in a good performance against their rivals.

Burgess will line up alongside Brad Barritt in the centres, with Owen Farrell replacing George Ford at fly-half. Warren Gatland, meanwhile, has made nine changes to the Wales side that beat Uruguay in their first game.