'Fight club' has England optimistic about rookie front-rowers
Matt Proudfoot has got no anxiety about the likely youthful make-up of the starting England front row this Saturday against the Springboks. With Ellis Genge in isolation and Jamie George injured, Eddie Jones is set to start Bevan Rodd and Jamie Blamire in the No1 and No2 England jerseys in a match that will bring the curtain down on the Autumn Nations Series.
It’s a sharp drop off in the level of experience. Genge is a 26-year-old, 31-cap vice-captain loosehead while George is a 31-year-old, 60-cap hooker, but their places will now potentially be taken by Rodd, the 21-year-old who only made his Test debut last weekend versus the Wallabies, and Blamire, the 23-year-old with just four England caps.
Given what happened to the England scrum when they last played the Springboks, their set-piece getting demolished in the World Cup final two years ago in Yokohama, it is understandable if English fans are fretting in the countdown to this Saturday’s first rematch between the two countries.
Blamire, for instance, has made all six of his Newcastle appearances in this season’s Premiership from the bench, but he is now in line for a starting role. Have no fear, though, was the response from England scrum coach Proudfoot ahead of a match that will see the assistant come up against the country he helped to win the World Cup before he joined the Eddie Jones set-up.
“Like every front row forward it is about what is inside the man and that is what we look for firstly and that is what we identified in Jamie,” assured Proudfoot when asked to give reasons why England fans can believe in what Blamire is particularly capable of doing. “He is a very strong character, having a lot of personal fight.
There was an apprehension last week when the uncapped Bevan Rodd, 21, was flung in for a debut England start at the 11th hour… #England #ENGvRSA #AutumnNationsSeries #Springbokshttps://t.co/brGF2luJX8
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 16, 2021
“When he came into camp in the summer we chucked him into what we term ‘the fight club’. The front row does a lot of extra work and just the way he ripped in was really promising. It showed a lot of what is inside the man. We know that he has got a big future ahead of him and we have invested in him. Whenever the opportunity presents itself it’s how the person grabs that opportunity.
“You can go back in history and look at every great player, the first time they got the opportunity a narrative could be spoken about, ‘Is he ready, isn’t he ready?’ It is how he grabs it and Jamie will improve over the years, he will improve his technique, he will get better at everything he does.
“But for me, Saturday is about what is in that jersey, who is in that jersey, who is putting that white jersey on and I have got a lot of confidence in the ability of any of the front rows we are going to pick to put that white jersey on.”
Asked to elaborate on what fight club is in the England set-up, Proudfoot quipped: “It would be breaking the first rule, front rows don’t talk about fight club. No, it’s just where we do extra contact work, body position work. It’s just what the front rows do.
“It’s just a unique name to call the front row club. It’s just where the front rows do some extra work, technical work, binding work, physical work to improve them as players. We try to create every scenario to add to our players and make them better. That is just one of the things we do.
“We look for the ideal opportunities in the week to put it in. The name isn’t about fighting, it’s just a tag we use. It’s more to do with body composition and how we train the body. The way the week is planned out, week five of a campaign, you need to structure the work you do and you do it very carefully. We put it on early in the week normally and it is good for the guys.”
It was 2018 when new England star Freddie Steward was starring in the RugbyPass documentary series on Leicester's academy… the 20-year-old now explains why his career has accelerated so quickly #England #ENGvRSA #AutumnNationsSeries #Springboks https://t.co/pW1rfvc7zo
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 16, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
Ben 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.
19 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.
7 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
19 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
26 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
19 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
26 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
19 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
86 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
9 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
19 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
14 Go to comments