Bubble tweaked to ensure England don't repeat 2021 Odogwu 6N issue
England players chosen in Eddie Jones’ 36-strong squad for the upcoming 2022 Guinness Six Nations won’t experience the championship frustration suffered in 2021 when the national team boss opted not to release players back to their clubs during the tournament.
Jones opted for a streamlined approach a year ago, picking a squad where the players would all remain in a bubble environment and wouldn’t be released to their clubs for Gallagher Premiership to top up their form if they were having little or no game time with England.
The two fallow weekends on either side of round three especially provides an opportunity for fringe players in the England squad with the opportunity to go back and get some game time for their clubs in the league, but this didn’t happen last year.
In the case of the still uncapped Paolo Odogwu, it meant that he spent the entire eight weeks in camp with England without playing a single minute and he was unable to get back to Wasps to showcase his ability. In total, he went ten weeks without playing a match of any kind.
“If I have any slight doubt I’d just be worried about his game-time, 100 per cent,” said Wasps boss Lee Blackett near the end of that Six Nations where there was no opportunity for Odogwu to keep ticking over by having match time with his club on the weekends England weren’t playing.
"Eddie Jones’ England squad announcement has made waves again…"
– @AndyGoode10 has given his verdict on the England squad named for the Six Nations #England #SixNationshttps://t.co/ucDSg2brBU
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 19, 2022
Jones has now selected 36 players to assemble in Brighton next Monday for the latest Six Nations campaign but unlike what unfolded in 2021, players that have little or no game time on this occasion now have the ability to appear for the Premiership clubs over the course of the championship.
“There is not an entire tournament bubble, no,” explained Exeter boss Rob Baxter, who has five players heading into camp next week – Luke Cowan-Dickie, Jonny Hill, Sam Simmonds, Jack Nowell and Henry Slade. “I think there is some ongoing (talks) over numbers that will stay in camp but overall there isn’t a plan for a group to go in together and then stay together throughout an entire tournament.”
That means, for instance, that someone like Nowell, recalled to Test level for the first time since the 2019 World Cup, could feature for Exeter to keep his form up if he doesn’t make it into the England team in the coming weeks.
“The 25 that they can keep for a matchday, there is some discussion over what size that can be, particularly at the start of the tournament. I believe that is still an ongoing discussion between Premiership Rugby and the RFU.
“If it is in place [the keeping of players] I think it is only for the early stages of the tournament and then it reverts pretty much to the regulation. But as I said, as far as I have been told, that is still being discussed.”
Last year’s Six Nations represented the nadir of Jones’ long stint in charge of England, his team finishing a derisory fifth place and prompting speculation that his job was under threat. It lead to a review that RFU CEO Bill Sweeney recently touched on.
Speaking in a lengthy interview in the latest edition of the Rugby Journal magazine, Sweeney said: “We knew it was going to be a tough Six Nations. We were particularly hit by Covid leading up to it.
“You don’t really talk about it too much because it comes across as an excuse and every team has to deal with it, but we did have a significant Covid issue in the camp. Eddie himself got isolated, Jason Ryles was stuck in Australia, we were very disrupted and we knew we were undercooked for that Scotland game…
“We played France (in round four). I remember talking to Eddie and saying, ‘Can we win this one?’ He said, ‘Yeah, no questions. We’re guaranteed we will this one’. So then, we played pretty well and had a bit of luck (and won), we’re going for a walk down the river and he’s saying, ‘I’ve got to keep the players focused, I don’t want them getting too carried away by what they read in the media about performance’.
“He said, ‘You have got to keep growing and focusing because if they listen to some of that poison it will be difficult to make that work’. I said to him, ‘Just be careful what you say on that’. Sometimes a word sticks out and, of course, pre-Ireland media conference he talked about poison and the media. We lost the game and we did get a bit of a backlash, so I did have a chat with him about that one.”
England went on to have Covid issues during the recent Autumn Nations Series. Skipper Owen Farrell missed the opening match after he tested positive, a finding that later turned out to be false, and looseheads Ellis Genge and Joe Marler also both tested positive later in the series.
That dynamic situation resulted in England deciding to keep all players with them in their camp from week two through to the series-ending week three rather than release some back to their clubs for games as they had done on the Tuesday of match week one.
Comments on RugbyPass
The Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to comments