Balance is a concern but England squad has enough quality to win World Cup - Andy Goode
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
Comments on RugbyPass
Hold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
39 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
1 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
5 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
39 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
39 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to commentsThis 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”?
35 Go to commentsWow, didn’t realise there was such apathy to URC in SA, or by Champions Cup teams. Just read Nick’s article on Crusaders, are Sharks a similar circumstance? I think SA rugby has been far more balanced than NZs, no?
4 Go to commentsBut 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 commentsIt could be coincidental or prescient that the All Blacks most dominant period under Steve Hansen was when the Crusaders had their least successful period under Todd Blackadder and then the positions reversed when Razor took over the Crusaders.
39 Go to commentsDefinitely sound read everybodyexpects immediate results these days, I don't think any team would travel well at all having lost three of the most important game changers in the game,compiled with the massive injury list they are now carrying, good to see a different more in depth perspective of a coaches history.
3 Go to commentsSinckler is a really big loss for English rugby.
2 Go to commentsThanks 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