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Ben Foden: How England can find World Cup success and compete with New Zealand

By Online Editors
Ben Foden. Photo / Getty Images

Former England fullback Ben Foden believes that for England to have sustained World Cup success, players must simply play less.

The 33-year-old is set to serve as a player-coach for the recently established Rugby United New York in America’s Major League Rugby competition, and is looking forward to a decreased workload, something he feels English rugby can learn from.

“In the last couple of years I always felt that I was going on to the field at about 80 per cent,” Foden told The Daily Mail. “I had two very bad knee injuries and an ankle injury. I always had a niggle of some sort. You never feel 100 per cent.

“I always say to young professionals coming through that they need to be more selfish. If you’re not 100 per cent then you shouldn’t be on the field. Your body is your job. You’ve got to look after yourself.

“I have never done that as a player. I always wanted to be on the field, so if someone said, “Are you alright?” I’d just nod my head and get on with it.

“That is really common in the game and some coaches put you in an awkward position. As a player, you should always want to play, so if a coach asks if you want to play, you answer “yes”, if you’re 10 per cent fit or 100 per cent fit.

“For me, it should be on the doctors or physios to say you can’t play, but that is really difficult for them to do. It is difficult for whoever carries that burdens, but in terms of player welfare and longevity of careers, it is massively important. A line has to be drawn.”

Foden weighed in on talks of a potential extension on the northern hemisphere season set to take place from 2020.

‘There’s been talk of an 11-month season, but that cannot happen. It is madness. Rugby is very unique in the fact that it’s a fast-paced, contact sport. If you look at all other major contact sports, their seasons are a lot shorter.”

“If England want to compete with New Zealand, something has to change,” Foden said. “New Zealand’s seasons are shorter. And how are Ireland so good, with only four provincial teams to pick from? Their players are well managed and looked after, that’s why.

“The RFU won’t allow players to be picked for England if they go abroad – which makes sense to protect the domestic game – but it means that they are forced to stay in probably the toughest league in rugby.

“If we want to be World Cup-winners and not just as a one-off, but back-to-back like New Zealand have done in the last two World Cups, changes need to be made. You need your fittest and best players on the field at all times.”

Foden last played for England in 2013 and has made 34 test appearances. He last played in England in 2018, notching his 250th appearance for Northampton last year.

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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 9 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.

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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

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