'I've been in conversations with Steve, we've always kept in touch'
Former Wasps lock Joe Launchbury has signalled his intent to force his way into the England World Cup squad later this year despite taking a sabbatical in Japanese rugby. The 70-Test veteran is currently recovering from a broken hand sustained in his full debut in Japan’s League One for Toyota Verblitz, the club he began training with in December after the demise of his beloved Wasps.
Launchbury, 31, is ineligible for his country during his six-month stint in the Far East, which ends in May before he returns to England to join Harlequins on July 1 and has revealed he has been in regular contact with new England head coach Steve Borthwick in recent weeks.
Far from considering his Test career to be over, he hopes to earn a recall this summer ahead of the global gathering in France starting in September. “I don’t think you ever lose that ability, or that desire, to play international rugby and it’s certainly still there for myself,” he said, speaking from his home in Nagoya, west of Tokyo.
“I understand being over here now is making it harder for myself and missing the Six Nations is making it harder again, but it is still something I am very passionate about. I have been in conversations with Steve; he is someone I have worked with for a number of years. We have always kept in touch and we certainly have over the last few weeks.
“For me now, short-term it’s about getting back from this hand injury – hopefully I will be back playing in a few weeks’ time – and then from there, whatever happens, happens.”
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Having worked with Borthwick when he was an assistant coach with England under Eddie Jones, Launchbury believes the former Leicester Tigers head coach will swiftly restore the reputation of the Red Rose pack and make them a unit to be feared again. “He obviously changed Leicester pretty quickly,” Launchbury noted. “Steve is an extremely detailed coach and very knowledgeable, especially around the forward area.
“I imagine he will get that forward pack back to being feared by some of the other teams, which maybe they haven’t been over the last period of time. I’m sure that will be his focus straightaway and I certainly think there will be a bit of a reaction from them. The Six Nations is a hugely challenging tournament and anyone can beat anyone, but I expect England to be competing much more than they have been over the last few years.”
Launchbury spent 12 years at Wasps after joining the club as a teenager and it is clear the scars of their slide into administration last October and subsequent relegation from the Premiership are still raw. He still can’t quite believe a professional sport “could allow two of the top 13 teams in the country to go like they did”, with Worcester suffering the same fate.
Following the mass redundances suffered by both clubs, he now prefers not to plan too far ahead these days. “If you’d asked me six months ago, I’d probably have said I wanted to stay at Wasps for the rest of my club career. But things obviously change and the one thing I have learned recently is you can’t look too far forward. You might be doing something completely different.
“I didn’t expect to be out here quite so soon and I am really excited about going to Quins. It’s a club I played a lot of my junior schoolboy rugby with as well, so closing the circle on that will be quite nice. I obviously hope there is a future for Wasps, there is something there and whatever comes of it, I hope they succeed in the future. Whether I play any part in that, we will see along the way.”
For now, England exile Launchbury is revelling in the chance to experience a new culture, on and off the pitch, in Japan with his wife Mallory and their two children, Blythe and Hayden. The family are only an 80-minute bullet train ride away from Tokyo and have just returned from a weekend trip to Osaka. “We went to Universal Studios and ticked off all the touristy bits up there,” he explained.
“When I came over here for the World Cup in 2019, I said to my wife if the opportunity ever arises to come back, it would be brilliant and we are absolutely loving it. She is heavily pregnant as well now but we have loved it so far from a cultural point of view. I have also been impressed by how professional it is here and the standard of rugby.
“I am towards the big and heavy end of the scale in England and I’m a fair bit heavier than a few of the guys in the team here. They train and play at quite a pace, so although the physicality might be slightly different, the speed of the game is certainly quick.”
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With the budgets of Premiership clubs severely squeezed, Launchbury believes more players will tread the same path as he and new Toyota Verblitz teammate Jamie Shillcock, the former Worcester fly-half. “Clearly you have got to be playing in England if you want to play for England, so if you are at that stage of your career and have those ambitions, it is decided for you.
“But a great friend of mine, James Gaskell, is playing for the other Toyota club, Shokki Shuttles, and coming from playing 30-odd games in the Premiership to here and experiencing a different way of life, he is hoping to stay for a few years to come. It is not only beneficial for the Japanese league but also guys with some experience in England where it’s a great time for them to come out and try something different.”
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Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause
6 Go to commentsNo way. If you are trying to picture New Zealand rugby with an All Blacks mindset, there have been two factors instrumental to the decline of NZ rugby to date. Those are the horror that the Blues have become and, probably more so, the fixture that the Crusaders became. I don’t think it was healthy to have one team so dominant for so long, both for lack of proper representation of players from outside that environment and on the over reliance on players from within it. If you are another international side, like Ireland for example, sure. You can copy paste something succinct from one level to the next and experience a huge increase in standards, but ultimately you will not be maximizing it, which is what you need to perform to the level the ABs do. Added to that is the apathy that develops in the whole game as a result of one sides dominance. NZ, Super, and Championship rugby should all experience a boom as a result of things balancing out. That said, there is a lot of bad news happening in NZ rugby recently, and I’m not sure the game can be handled well enough here to postpone the always-there feeling of inevitable decline of rugby.
6 Go to commentsNo SA supporter miss Super Rugby - a product that is experiencing significant head wind in ANZ - the competition from rival codes are intense, match attendance figures are at a historical low and the negativity of commentators such as Kirwan and Wilson have accelerated the downward spiral in NZ. After the next RWC in 2027 sponsors will follow Qantas and start leaving in droves.
2 Go to commentsLike others, I am not seeing the connection between this edition of the Crusaders and the All Blacks future prospects under Razor. I think the analysis of the Crusaders attack recently is helpful because Razor and his coaching team used to be able to slot new guys in to their systems and see them succeed. Several of Razor’s coaches are still there so it would be surprising if the current attack and set piece has been overhauled to a great extent - but based on that analysis, it may have been. Whether it is too many new guys due to injuries or retirement or a failure of current Crusaders systems is the main question to be answered imo. It doesn’t seem relevant for the ABs.
6 Go to commentsharry potter is set in stone. he creates stability and finishes well. exactly what schmidt likes. he’s the ben smith of australian rugby. i think it could quite easily be potter toole and kellaway for the foreseeable future.
5 Go to commentsThis is short sighted from Clayton if you ask me, smacks of too much preseason planning and no adaptability. What if DMac is out for a must win match, are they still only going to bring their best first five and playmaker on late in the game? Trusting the game to someone who wasn’t even part of planning (they would have had Trask pinned in as Jacomb preseason). Perhaps if the Crusaders were better they would not have done this, but either way imo you take this opportunity to play a guy you might need starting in a final rather than having their 12th game getting comfortable coming off the bench.
1 Go to commentsThanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.
21 Go to commentsWhat a load of bollocks. The author has forgotten to mention the fact that the Crusaders have a huge injury toll with top world class players out. Not to mention the fact that they are obviously in a transition period. No this will not spark a slow death for NZ rugby, but it does mean there will be a new Super Rugby champion. Anyone who knows anything about NZ rugby knows that there is some serious talent here, it just isn’t all at the Crusaders.
6 Go to commentsI wouldn’t spend the time on Nawaqanitawase! No point in having him filling in a jersey when he’s committed to leave Union. Give the jersey to a young prospect who will be here in the future.
5 Go to commentsIt was a pleasure to watch those guys playing with such confidence. That trio can all be infuriating for different reasons and I can see why Jones might have decided against them. No way to justify leaving Ikitau out though. Jorgensen and him were both scheduled to return at the same time. Only one of them plays for Randwick and has a dad who is great mates with the national coach though.
53 Go to commentsBrayden Iose and Peter Lakai are very exciting Super Rugby players but are too short and too light to ever be a Test 8 vs South Africa, France, Ireland, and England, Lakai could potentially be a Test player at 7 if he is allowed to focus on 7 for Hurricanes.
7 Go to commentsPencils “Thomas du Toit” into possible 2027 Bok squad.
1 Go to commentsDon’t see why Harrison makes the bench. Jones can play at 10 if needed, and there is a good case for starting her there to begin with if testing combinations. That would leave room for Sing on the bench
1 Go to commentsWhat a load of old bull!
1 Go to commentsOf the rugby I’ve born witness to in my lifetime - 1990 to date - I recognize great players throughout those years. But I have no doubt the game and the players are on average better today. So I doubt going back further is going to prove me wrong. The technical components of the game, set pieces, scrums, kicks, kicks at goal. And in general tactics employed are far more efficient, accurate and polished. Professional athletes that have invested countless hours on being accurate. There is one nation though that may be fairly competitive in any era - and that for me is the all blacks. And New Zealand players in general. NZ produces startling athletes who have fantastic ball skills. And then the odd phenomenon like Brooke. Lomu. Mcaw. Carter. Better than comparing players and teams across eras - I’ve often had this thought - that it would be very interesting to have a version of the game that is closer to its original form. What would the game look like today if the rules were rolled back. Not rules that promote safety obviously - but rules like: - a try being worth 1 point and conversion 2 points. Hence the term “try”. Earning a try at goals. Would we see more attacking play? - no lifting in the lineouts. - rucks and break down laws in general. They looked like wrestling matches in bygone eras. I wonder what a game applying 1995 rules would look like with modern players. It may be a daft exercise, but it would make for an interesting spectacle celebrating “purer” forms of the game that roll back the rules dramatically by a few versions. Would we come to learn that some of the rules/combinations of the rules we see today have actually made the game less attractive? I’d love to see an exhibition match like that.
29 Go to commentsIrish Rugby CEO be texting Andy Farrell “Andy, i found our next Kiwi Irishman”
5 Go to commentsI certainly don’t miss drinking beers at 8am in the morning watching rugby games being played in NZ.
2 Go to commentsThis looks like a damage limitation exercise for Wales, keeping back some of their more effective players for the last 20/25 minutes to try and counter England’s fresh legs so the Red Roses don’t rack up a big score.
2 Go to commentsVery unlikely the Bulls will beat Leinster in Dublin. It would be different in Pretoria.
1 Go to commentsI think it is a dangerous path to go down to ban a player for the same period that a player they injured takes to recover. Players would be afraid to tackle anyone. I once tackled my best friend at school in a practice match and sprained his ankle. I paid for it by having to play fly-half instead of full-back for the rest of that season’s fixtures.
5 Go to comments