'England will be based around the Saracens machine and that mindset will pay real dividends'
Saturday night in Paris will see an avalanche of attacking firepower on show in the Top 14 final between Toulouse and Clermont.
However, when it comes to the Test arena in Japan on October 12, Montpellier backs coach Alex King believes an England team based around the Saracens machine will crucially nullify France in their final Pool C match.
Both Toulouse and Clermont carry potent attacking options for French coach Jacques Brunel, who has yet to decide on his first choice No10 for the tournament in Japan.
The league final at Stade de France offers Clermont’s Camille Lopez and Toulouse’ Antoine Dupont the opportunity to put themselves forward as the answer to a lengthy debate that requires a resolution before a pool campaign in the Far East when France and England will be joined by Argentina, Tonga and USA in one of the toughest pools at the finals.
King has spent the season working out strategies to deal with the best attacking talent in the French league. That list is headed by Clermont wings Damian Penaud and Alivereti Raka along with Lopez, while Toulouse centre Wesley Fofana is playing an exciting brand of attack initiated by Dupont and bringing the best out of a back line that includes Romain Ntamack, Maxime Medard, Thomas Ramos and Yoann Huget. The only consolation for England fans is that Cheslin Kolbe, the brilliant Toulouse wing, is South African.
Une finale de rêve nous attend le 15 juin ! ???
Nos deux clubs partenaires vont tout donner pour soulever le Brennus.?Mais qui ramènera le bouclier à la maison ? ?
? @ASMOfficiel
??@StadeToulousain pic.twitter.com/SuijrJuo7F— Team Orange Rugby (@TeamOrangeRugby) June 10, 2019
King expects Clermont and Toulouse to provide the majority of back line options, although he would add Gael Fickou (Stade Francais) as a midfield link with Fofana, keep Racing’s Teddy Thomas as a wing option, ensure Toulon’s Anthony Belleau is in the mix at No10 and have Morgan Parra (Clermont) and Maxime Machenaud (Racing) as contenders at scrum-half.
“England will be favourites to qualify from the pool because they have great strength in depth and can muscle up when they want to and also move to a wider game,” suggested King to RugbyPass. The former England, Wasps, Northampton and Clermont No10 is waiting to discover what incoming Montpellier head coach Xavier Garbajosa plans to do with the existing coaching set-up at the club.
“They are also going to be based around the Saracens machine and that mindset will pay real dividends, with Exeter also showing the right mentality. The Premiership is really strong at the moment.
“Toulouse have been fantastic this season and try to give the ball as often as possible to Kolbe who is one of the quickest players in the Top14.
“The two teams in the final will make up the basis of the French back line at the World Cup with Parra, Fofana, Penaud, Raka plus Lopez for Clermont, and Toulouse featuring Ramos, Ntamack, Dupont, Huget and Medard. If you then add in a few more players from other clubs it’s a formidable line up of talent.
“The No10 role for France is such a tough one and he [Lopez] always seems to get dropped when they lose. It’s a reality of rugby life over here and you just hope that Brunel gives someone a run in the position to build partnerships. If you keep on reacting to losses like that you will never get growth,” continued King, the 44-year-old who was the Wales attack coach during their 2017 Six Nations campaign when boss Warren Gatland was on a Lions sabbatical.
#FinaleTOP14
Un oeil sur le parcours du @StadeToulousain et de l'@ASMOfficiel avant d'atteindre la finale ! pic.twitter.com/VBudxmwsHu— TOP 14 Rugby (@top14rugby) June 9, 2019
“For France to be a real threat to England they have to get their selection and coaching right because as we have seen from Toulouse, they excel off turnover ball, playing unstructured rugby.
“In the final, the kicking game will be key because you cannot just hand back ball to guys like Ramos, Kolbe, Penaud and Raka. France are fortunate to have so many good players in form heading into a World Cup.
“Against England in the Six Nations they picked the wrong No15, and got found out and there are question marks over Raka and Penaud defending kicks – they can be susceptible.”
King confirmed there is “no sharing of tactical ideas” between the Top 14 club coaches and the French international set-up under Brunel, which creates uncertainty over selection and tactics.
Besides England facing threats from French players in the Top 14, King also pinpointed key players from Argentina who have impressed this season in Europe and can be added to the Pumas squad for the finals.
“Nicolas Sanchez has had really good season at No10 for Stade. Juan Imhoff from Racing is very dangerous and always scores tries, while Facundo Isa has done well at Toulon. You also have Bordeaux-bound Santiago Cordero at Exeter.”
WATCH: Episode six of Don’t Mess with Jim, the weekly RugbyPass series hosted by former Scotland international Hamilton
Comments on RugbyPass
We’re building a bridge but can't agree where the river is.
2 Go to commentsfirst no arms shoulder or helmet tackle into his rib cage is going to be so very painful even to watch. go back to RU mate.
1 Go to commentsBulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 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…
2 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.
7 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.
45 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? 😂
45 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 comments