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Clive Woodward has named the England XV he wants to see play Japan

England's Tommy Freeman celebrates his March try versus France (Photo by Dan Mullan/The RFU Collection via Getty Images)

Former England boss Clive Woodward has revealed the XV he wants to see play Japan next Saturday in the opening match of the three-game summer tour. Steve Borthwick’s squad are in Tokyo for a fixture versus the Japanese that will be streamed live in the UK and Ireland on RugbyPass TV.

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Ahead of the tour opener, Woodward, the 2003 Rugby World Cup-winning coach, has resumed his series of columns in the Daily Mail by outlining the team that Borthwick should name to face Eddie Jones’ Cherry Blossoms before moving on to New Zealand for the two July Tests versus the All Blacks.

He suggested that Tommy Freeman, previously a Borthwick pick on the England wing, should be moved into outside centre to accommodate a debut for Ollie Sleightholme in a backline where he would give the No10 shirt to Marcus Smith now that George Ford is unavailable and hasn’t toured due to injury.

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Walk the Talk with Eddie Jones – Trailer | RPTV

Eddie Jones reflects on his career, rugby’s growth in Japan, coaching England and Australia, South African rugby and much more. Full episode coming Tuesday 18 June on RPTV

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Walk the Talk with Eddie Jones – Trailer | RPTV

Eddie Jones reflects on his career, rugby’s growth in Japan, coaching England and Australia, South African rugby and much more. Full episode coming Tuesday 18 June on RPTV

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Woodward’s column intro suggested Bothwick’s squad was similar to football’s Gareth Southgate, who are in Germany looking to win Euro 2024. “The similarities between the two teams are striking. Both are packed with exciting young players blessed with brilliant, natural ability,” he suggested.

“Rightly or wrongly, Southgate and Borthwick have a reputation for pragmatism and a defensive mindset. They will have to throw that approach out of the window to have success this summer.”

Woodward then went on to list the backline he wants running out in Tokyo. “I hope Borthwick has the confidence to throw the kitchen sink at Japan and New Zealand this summer.

“I have been heartened by their progress. At the end of the Six Nations, we saw the team ditch the kick-fest approach that tarnished the end of the Eddie Jones era. Against Ireland and France, England attacked with the pace and intensity everyone wants to see.

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“It seems Borthwick wants to continue on that path… England have a back division that wants to play quickly and cause real damage. The big question is: can the forwards do likewise? If coached correctly, they are capable of it. But England’s pack is still some way behind the best. This summer is a massive chance to bridge the gap.”

Woodward suggested that Borthwick’s biggest selection call is getting the 10-12-13 axis correct and here is why he wants to see Freeman at 13 outside Henry Slade and Marcus Smith.

“Freeman is special and can play both wing and centre. He reminds me of Ben Cohen, who had a brilliant combination of power and timing. Ollie Lawrence has been fantastic, offers a physical presence and will undoubtedly be in the midfield conversation. But playing Slade at 12 offers a second kicking option to Marcus Smith and provides plenty of experience.

“I’d play Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Ollie Sleightholme on the wings. The former is a nailed-on starter and Sleightholme has come from nowhere to finish as the Premiership’s leading try scorer.”

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Clive Woodward’s England XV versus Japan: 15. G Furbank; 14. I Feyi-Waboso, 13. T Freeman, 12. H Slade, 11. O Sleightholme; 10. M Smith, 9 A Mitchell; 1. J Marler, 2. J George (capt), 3. D Cole, 4. M Itoje, 5. G Martin, 6. T Curry, 8. B Earl, 7. S Underhill.

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Tim 284 days ago

Fail to understand this infatuation with moving outside backs to the centres. It takes an age to learn the intricacies in those two specialist positions. Internationals are not ideal for learning a new role Clive.

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RedWarriors 2 hours ago
'Matches between Les Bleus and the All Blacks are rarely for the faint-hearted.'

“….after hyping themselves up for about a year and a half”


You see, this is the disrespect I am talking about. NZ immediately started this character assasination on Irish rugby after the series win “about a year and a half” before the RWC. We win in NZ and suddenly we are arrogant. Do you consider this respectful?

And please substantiate Ireland talking themselves up comment: for every supposed instance of this there is surely 100x examples of NZ talking themselves up?

We were ranked 1, but that’s not talking ourselves up. We were playing good rugby.


Re the QF: that was a one score match: if you say we ‘choked’ you are really saying that Ireland were the better team but pressure got to them on the day? That is demeaning to your own team and another example of disrespect to Ireland.


New Zealand:

-NZ’s year long prep included a wall defence that Ireland had not seen until the match.

-Insights on all players strenghts and weaknesses. The scrum coach said that he had communicated several times with Barnes about Porter. He also noted when Barnes was looking at Porter he was NOT looking at the NZ front row.

-A favourable draw meaning NZ would play Ireland in a QF, where Ireland would not have a knock out win under their belt.

-A (another) favourable scheduling meant that NZ could focus on the QF literally after the France match and focus on Ireland after they beat SA in the pool.


Ireland:

-Unfavourable draw: have to play the triple world cup champions with players having multi RWC knock out match winning caps in the QF, when Ireland DONT want to play a top 4 team.

-Unfavourable schedule: Have to play world no 5 Scotland 6-7 days before the quarter. Have to prepare for this which compares unfavourably with NZs schedule (Uruguay 9 days before QF). Both wingers get injured with no time to recover.

-Match: went 13-0 down but came back. Try held up brilliantly by Barrett and last play of the match saw Ireland move from their own 10 metre line to 10 metres from the NZ line.

Jordan himself said that the NZ line was retreating and someone needed to do something which was Whitelock.


Ireland died with their boots on. You saw the reaction from NZ after the whistle. Claiming Ireland choked is disrespectful to NZ and to a great rugby match. It is also indicative of the disrespect shown by NZ and fans to Ireland since 2022. We saw it in some NZ players having a go at Irish players and supporters after the whistle. Is that respect?

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LONG READ
LONG READ 'Matches between Les Bleus and the All Blacks are rarely for the faint-hearted.' 'Matches between Les Bleus and the All Blacks are rarely for the faint-hearted.'
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