1
Fickou comparison has England believing in Manu Tuilagi the winger
Eddie Jones has defended his surprise selection of Manu Tuilagi on the England right wing to face Australia on Saturday, comparing the tactical switch to what France did last year when they opted to select regular midfielder Gael Fickou on their wing. The 30-year-old Tuilagi has only started once previously on the Test level wing in his 38 starts for England – a June 2014 selection in the No14 jersey by Stuart Lancaster against the All Blacks in Dunedin.
ADVERTISEMENT
All other 37 starts that Tuilagi has made for England have been at midfield but Jones’ determination to try out the new ten/twelve combination of Marcus Smith and skipper Owen Farrell at international level for the first time prompted some outside-the-box thinking from the coach.
Tuilagi has combined excellently at inside centre with his midfield partner Henry Slade in last weekend’s win over Tonga and rather than simply demote Tuilagi on the basis that Farrell had come out of isolation following his false-positive virus test and was available to play at No12, Jones opted to keep the Sale midfield in his starting selection by finding a spot for him on the wing at the expense of Adam Radwan.
Jones was initially hesitant to elaborate much on his selection gambit with Tuilagi at Thursday’s team announcement media briefing. The conversation initially went like this:
MEDIA: How much have you seen of Manu on the wing?
JONES: Enough.
M: How much in training?
EJ: Enough.
M: All week, two weeks?
EJ: Enough.
M: What does that mean?
EJ: Well, all I need to see, mate, is enough. As I said the players will mix and match to their strengths. We believe that is the best backline to play against Australia.
M: What is he like under the high ball?
EJ: We mightn’t have to worry about the high ball too much against Australia.
M: You don’t think they will kick that much?
EJ: Well, if they do kick we have got other blokes who are really good under the high ball.
TEAM NEWS: Eddie Jones makes two XV changes but it's his decision regarding Manu Tuilagi's role that will spark most debate #England #ENGvAUS #AutumnNationsSeries #Wallabieshttps://t.co/Vr1DbfNmnp
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 11, 2021
Later asked if there was a comparable situation to his decision to pick regular England midfielder Tuilagi on the Test wing, Jones replied. “Look I’d be clutching for straws there, mate. All I see is a powerful player who is probably in the best condition of his career. He will add to the ballplayers we have inside to finish off the movements that we have.
“He will be able to roam on the field, he will be able to play like a second centre or a third centre. I think last season Fickou played on the wing for France and was outstanding and the game (against Australia) lends itself to another powerhouse centre so we are looking forward to seeing him play there.
ADVERTISEMENT
“We decided we would pick the best players and the players will mix and match on the field a little bit to their strengths and we believe that this is the best backline for this game… As I said we are going to mix and match. I have seen him play on the wing and he can handle twelve, 13, 11, 14, probably not 15 but he can handle all those positions with aplomb and he is in the best condition of his career.
“We want to use each player to their strengths and that is why we have picked this particular backline to complement a strong forward pack. We realise that Australia is going to ask a lot of questions.”
TRANSFER NEWS: The out-of-favour England No10 has been contacted by the Sharks about a possible move away from Leicester #Sharks #GallagherPrem #Tigers #England
https://t.co/tX4d7uFgXM— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 11, 2021
ADVERTISEMENT
Comments on RugbyPass
It 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.
1 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.)
2 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.
28 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.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to comments