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England fans will have to wait for dream back row unit
Ever since Eddie Jones announced his England squad for the autumn, the back row has perhaps been the area most keenly discussed.
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This is in part due to the absentees, namely European player of the year Sam Simmonds, but that is a fairly hackneyed discussion by now. Elsewhere, a lot of focus has been on the inclusion of the RPA players’ player of the year Jack Willis.
The uncapped Wasps flanker produced some jaw-dropping stats last season in the league, particularly his haul of 46 turnovers (more than second and third place combined), as well as finishing with the joint-third most tries.
The 23-year-old starts at openside flanker this Saturday against Georgia in the Autumn Nations Cup, and there is understandably plenty of buzz online about his debut. This is a player who, if he can replicate his club form in an England shirt, has the potential to produce Pocock-esque stats at the breakdown.
However, when many pundits and fans were concocting their dream back row for this autumn and beyond, few envisaged it would feature Maro Itoje, who packs down at blindside flanker alongside his Saracens teammate Billy Vunipola at No8.
The decision to play Itoje at No6 is one that makes sense. He is not only accustomed to the position, but against a notoriously robust side like Georgia, it beefs up the pack. Under the influence of World Cup winning forwards coach Matt Proudfoot, the Saracen can play a role similar to World Rugby player of the year Pieter-Steph du Toit. This fixture does afford Jones the chance to experiment slightly as well.
Having both Tom Curry and Ben Earl on the bench, or as ‘finishers’, further provides Jones with options and the opportunity to alter the complexion and mobility of his pack entirely if he chooses to. But that does mean one member of Jones’ ‘Kamikaze Kids’, Sam Underhill, misses out this week, as do Lewis Ludlam and Ted Hill.
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The No6-No7 combination of Curry and Willis seems to be a popular one online, and maybe the most eagerly anticipated. It is also one that may become a reality at some point at Twickenham. There is even the possibility of shifting Curry to the back of the scrum to accommodate Willis and Earl, or Underhill in the future. Given the depth options, the possibilities seem endless.
So glad Jack Willis is playing. He’s dynamite!!! I know Curry is a finisher on Saturday but can’t wait to see those 2 together. Be like Hooper and Pocock
— Jim-C (@jmconnor6) November 12, 2020
Willis is off the scale and I’d love to see him alongside Curry at 6/7. But we’ve got a plethora of back row options. I like Ollie Lawrence but I’d rather him at 12 and Slade 13
— David Summers (@davidsummers64) November 12, 2020
I want Willis, Underhill, and Curry at 8. Good luck to the other lot keeping the ball. Then Billy to go full bore for 20 minutes or so at the end.
— BigSmoke (@TheLondonSmoke) November 12, 2020
I think Itoje would be a poor imitation of PSDT. Not because he isn’t a great player but it took so long for PSDT to be mobile enough for flank. I’d rather stay with the Kamikaze flank options like Underhill, Curry, Willis, Earl etc
— Thala Msutu (@ThalaMsutu77) November 12, 2020
England can have a back row of Sam Underhill, Tom Curry and Jack Willis *chefs kiss
— Tyson. (@thatdudetys) November 12, 2020
Comments on RugbyPass
He was in such great form. Sad for him but only a short term injury and it will be great to see him back for the finals.
1 Go to commentsAfter their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
3 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
2 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
3 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
34 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
3 Go to comments