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Balance is a concern but England squad has enough quality to win World Cup - Andy Goode

By Andy Goode
England's Eddie Jones watches on during training at The Lensbury on May 31 (Photo by Jordan Mansfield/Getty Images)

Travelling to the World Cup with just two specialist tightheads and two specialist scrum halves is a major risk but Eddie Jones is doing it his way again and he has the quality at his disposal to win it.

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It was always going to be the case that one of the more specialist positions was going to have to be covered by just two players instead of three but Eddie has gone with a plethora of outside backs, including the uncapped Ruaridh McConnochie, and left himself light at numbers three and nine.

Any team has to go week to week and have contingency plans and there is even more scrutiny on that at a World Cup when there are so many games in such a short space of time and the squad is capped at 31.

It seems that one of England’s back-up plans is to use George Ford at scrum half if one of Ben Youngs or Willi Heinz goes down. That might not be an issue if it’s just from the bench while another specialist nine is flown out but it could come back to bite them if one is ruled out before a game and another in the early stages of the match.

Joe Marler tackle bag
Eddie Jones speaks with Joe Marler prior to England’s Quilter International match against Wales (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

Another contingency is to use Joe Marler, who I know hasn’t fancied playing on the other side of the scrum before, as a tighthead.

I can see why you would only take two scrum halves but I can’t understand why you would go with just two tightheads. Kyle Sinckler and Dan Cole are going to be getting through a lot of work and going to Japan light in that area seems a lot more of a gamble to me.

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Minor injuries are always going to happen and then there are bans as well. We know that Sinckler plays right on the edge and can fly off the handle at times so that could present a problem.

There’s a four-day turnaround between the Tonga and USA games at the start of the tournament and then there is the traditionally strong scrum of Argentina, even if it isn’t going so well at the moment, and the power of the French pack to come.

So, it was a massive surprise to me that Harry Williams wasn’t included as well. As amazing as it is for McConnochie to be given an opportunity and he has looked like a terrific athlete in a Bath shirt, I would’ve gone with three tightheads and only five back three players.

In terms of the actual selections, there are a few question marks. I don’t think they are necessarily question marks over individuals and their quality but it’s certainly reasonable to ask why he hasn’t looked at some of these players earlier.

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Lewis Ludlam is clearly an absolute bolter and he was brilliant at the weekend on top of a strong first season as a regular at Northampton. That pride and passion he showed in his performance, as well as during the anthem, was great to see.

However, Willi Heinz has been around at Gloucester for four seasons, so since the last World Cup, and it’s taken until now for him to win his first cap. He’s overtaken Dan Robson, Ben Spencer, Richard Wigglesworth and Danny Care but did it have to be so late in the day?

Piers Francis is another who has been an option for a while but made just two appearances off the bench in the two years between going on tour to Argentina in 2017 and starting against Wales on Sunday.

He’s taken the seat on the plane that most people thought was reserved for Ben Te’o and a lot of people will also be surprised that he’s in ahead of Alex Lozowski, who has been starring in a Saracens side that’s been winning trophies.

I loved training with him when I was at Wasps and seeing how he developed and he’s gone on to be unbelievable for the Premiership and European champions but he was hooked at half-time against Japan in the autumn when it wasn’t really his fault England were struggling and he hasn’t been seen since.

It looks for all the world like Ben Te’o has fought his way out of the squad and, while his inclusion will have surprised many, Francis has been in really good form for Northampton at the back end of the season and stood up well against Wales too.

McConnochie is another one who has come from nowhere and, like Ludlam, they’ve obviously trained the house down in the past six weeks.

The Bath man has done a phenomenal job to force his way in ahead of Mike Brown, who may or may not have missed out because of his alleged bust-up with Te’o, and a penny for Chris Ashton’s thoughts as well.

Chris Ashton

He pulled out of the squad at the end of June because his wife was pregnant and he understandably didn’t feel like he could commit to long period away in camp. He also suggested he wasn’t sure he’d make the final squad and now an uncapped winger is in there.

Eyebrows were raised when McConnochie was named in the wider squad to take part in the pre-tournament training camp and they’re being raised even higher now he’s been named in the final 31 but he’s taken his chance.

Players are always going to make late runs and hit form at just the right time, while others fall by the wayside, and you could certainly argue that it’s just panned out like this but there are a lot of fresh faces just coming in at the very end of a four-year cycle and it’s a shame that some, like Heinz in particular, haven’t had an opportunity sooner.

It’s the balance of the squad with that extra back three man and lack of a third tighthead that concerns me most but maybe I’m just being pessimistic and two will prove to be enough.

England’s best team has underperformed over the last 18 months but the squad has been freshened up and is one that people can get excited about now. If you write down the best XV on paper, it is good enough to win a World Cup without a shadow of a doubt. The field is wide open, so why can’t it be us?

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Jon 7 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 10 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

39 Go to comments
A
Adrian 11 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

39 Go to comments
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