WORLD Rugby chief executive Brett Gosper caused a few Welsh eyebrows to be raised when he commented about the England cricket team in March.

“England fail to exit pool in World Cup ... not the words we want to hear during #RWC2015 #CWC2015,” he Tweeted after Bangladesh had triumphed in the winner-takes-all clash in Adelaide.

That prompted Warren Gatland to express his surprise given that Wales, Australia and Fiji are all also aiming to get out of Pool One and into the quarters.

But the Wales boss will hope that his England counterpart Stuart Lancaster is paying close attention to how Eoin Morgan’s cricketers have responded to their World Cup failure.

They have dumped the risk-averse approach that led to their one-day woes in the current series with New Zealand, attempted to mimic the Black Caps’ aggressive, attacking gung-ho style.

It’s winning praise... for now (give it a year and dunderheaded dismissals won’t be brushed under the mat so swiftly).

And Wales will hope that Lancaster’s England, inspired by the chance to impress a big audience at a tournament on their own turf, are just as daring.

I was labelled a bore by colleagues when I said in Rome, a couple of hours after the conclusion to a thrilling Super Saturday, that England’s best bet for home success was to dump the expansive George Ford-Luther Burrell-Jonathan Joseph selection at 10-12-13 for the World Cup.

Granted, that trio took to the field in a victory at the Millennium Stadium in the Six Nations but I maintain that their best hope is the more pragmatic Owen Farrell-Brad Barritt-Manu Tuilagi line-up.

That selection is now impossible after the outside centre’s off-field indiscretion saw him ruled out by Lancaster, giving Joseph the chance to build on his promising Six Nations.

But England should be going into their World Cup with the intent to bludgeon their way past Fiji, Wales and Australia and utilise their terrific strength and depth up front.

If they try to use the free-running approach that earned Bath plenty of plaudits but also runners-up medals after being out-muscled by savvy Saracens in the Aviva Premiership final then they could well be watching on in the last eight.

Gatland and his coaches would love them to fall into the trap of putting entertainment first and a gallant failure while playing with freedom won’t get the same charitable reaction as the cricketers are currently enjoying.