Ex-England centre takes aim over Farrell captaincy, Itoje form
Jeremy Guscott believes Steve Borthwick must rethink his decision to make Owen Farrell his England captain – and has also questioned Maro Itoje’s ongoing lack of form at Test level. It was January, prior to new head coach Borthwick naming his squad for the Guinness Six Nations when Guscott told RugbyPass that he would be closely watching what was decided about the captaincy.
“Who Borthwick chooses as captain will be significant,” he said at the time. “When I think of Geoff Cooke, he picked Will Carling as a young player, a young captain. (Clive) Woodward picked Lawrence Dallaglio and then Martin (Johnson) took over. Jack Rowell went close to home, Carling stopped and Phil de Glanville took over. For change to take place, mentally you need to hear from a different voice.”
Following a campaign in which England were skippered by Farrell in the four matches that he started (Ellis Genge was given the responsibility versus France with Farrell benched), Guscott now believes Borthwick must reassess the captaincy ahead of the World Cup in France from September.
Speaking to bettingsites.ltd.uk following a third successive Six Nations in which England finished with just two wins from five matches, Guscott said: “The English public has just got to come to terms with the fact that we are not as good as we may think we are. That is proven all around and, quite simply, if you lined up the Irish team, you lined up the French team, who from the England team would get into either of those teams?
“That is why Borthwick shouldn’t be microscopically judged on what happened in the Six Nations. What England wanted was a bigger improvement from the autumn. It was so disappointing in so many ways because it looked like they weren’t in the games. For large parts of the French game, they weren’t in it. Against Ireland, they came together a bit more. But we are lacking those special players, we are lacking stardust.
“Also, Borthwick’s decision right at the beginning to name Owen Farrell as captain was either going to have worked incredibly well or it was going to go horribly wrong. He is a hangover from Eddie. There is a lot of Eddie in Farrell and that is what he probably saw when he became coach. The warrior that Farrell is, the great leader that he is, it is a hangover and without Farrell, they would move on.
“I figured they would move on quicker without that. It’s a legacy from Eddie. I’m saying we ought to rethink that. Is it going forward and are England progressing with him? How much longer is Farrell going to play? Post-World Cup the future is probably Marcus Smith and maybe George Ford. So many times, Owen gets the ball 30 metres away from the try line and his first instinct, it seems, is always to kick.
“It’s much better to see that one pass and then make the decision. Marcus’ instinct is to run. George Ford’s instinct is to scan and then make a decision to kick or run. Owen’s first decision seems to be to kick. His influence over the team is enormous and if he is on a high, it works. But at the moment, he just looks a little bit slower than he used to be, more reserved than he used to be, and he certainly kicks more than he used to.
“Borthwick has got enough time between this last game and the first warm-up game (in August) and the England camp to decide if Farrell is the right choice. Personally, I can’t say no he is not because I’m not in the camp so I don’t know the upside of Owen Farrell. But the playing side at the moment isn’t influential enough for him to be in the team and to be captain.”
Guscott also reflected on the forgettable campaigns that Manu Tuilagi and Itoje had with England. “We put labels on players and people. The only label we should be worried about is how well this person is playing. If he is playing well, he picks himself. If he isn’t, which Manu hasn’t been, he is left out. Ollie Lawrence came in and proved his place. We say we can’t wait for Manu to get back to playing as well as he can; we can’t wait for Farrell to play his best rugby.
“And where has Maro Itoje been? I was sitting next to a good friend watching the game at the Aviva Stadium. When Maro made his first ball carry, I didn’t know he was in the game. Maro used to get three turnovers a match and make 20 tackles. He was the man of the match most of the time. That has disappeared. It’s just a reflection of where England have been for the last three Six Nations championships.”
Guscott reckoned that the English rugby pathway wasn’t producing sufficient talent to improve results. “Everyone at the RFU, and I don’t know these people, have got to up their game. Maybe they are already and there is stuff in place that we don’t know about. But right here, right now, who is the replacement for Kyle Sinckler? A 35-year-old guy [Dan Cole].
“Who is the replacement for Jamie George? Who is a replacement for Itoje? Who is a replacement for Manu Tuilagi? What is the quality of their replacements? What is the quality of those coming through? You would say it is substandard. It reflects Premiership rugby and their players. It’s a reflection of the whole development pathway. It is not producing world-class players now.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Dagg is still trying to get enough headlines to make himself relevant enough to get a job. The Crusaders went back to square one at all levels. Shelve this season and nail the next one.
4 Go to commentsHe 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.
3 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.
37 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 comments