Martin Johnson is 'worried' about Eddie Jones' England
Martin Johnson is “worried” by the lack of depth in English rugby ahead of a potential call-up for Hurricanes captain Brad Shields.
While born in New Zealand, the loose forward qualifies for England through his parents and could be fast-tracked into Eddie Jones’ squad for the tour to South Africa in June.
New Zealand Rugby chief executive Stew Tew confirmed last month that Shields – who will join Wasps at the end of the Super Rugby season – had requested an early release from his contract, paving the way for him to play international rugby for his adopted homeland.
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Jones is without a host of key players for the three-Test series, with Dylan Hartley, Courtney Lawes, George Kruis, Nathan Hughes, Jonathan Joseph and Anthony Watson all ruled out through injury.
Yet Johnson, who captained England to World Cup glory in 2003 before later coaching the national team, feels Shields’ selection would only demonstrate the lack of homegrown talent available.
“This has been coming for a while. Eddie’s doing it because he obviously doesn’t think he’s got enough talent in England,” Johnson said in an interview with the Times.
“It doesn’t offend me. It is worrying that he doesn’t think the players are in this country. We should be producing the players to have an international squad and be able to cover the natural unavailability. We don’t seem to have that depth at the moment.
“Guys like Sam Simmonds, Sam Underhill – get in and get injured. You want to see those guys. South Africa will be great for them if they can go and play there.
“I have been worried a while – where are the next players? If you have a team that’s going well and they play until they are quite old, by definition, the next generation are not coming through, not getting a chance.
“I’m sure some people would say they are but that they are not getting a chance to play because the Premiership clubs are just bringing in foreign players.”
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Johnson isn’t the first former England coach to voice his concern.
Former England head coach Sir Clive Woodward has deemed Brad Shields’ potential selection for England’s tour of South Africa as ‘intrinsically wrong’.
Woodward penned his thoughts in his column for Daily Mail, where he details why Shields’ selection makes little sense and urges Eddie Jones to look elsewhere.
Woodward believes that England should instead pick someone groomed through the English system.
“England reportedly want to pluck Shields out of the Super Rugby tournament, fly him 12,000 miles to here and then another 5500 to South Africa, before he returns to Wellington to complete his contract there,” writes Woodward.
“It makes zero sense and is intrinsically wrong. If he tours South Africa it will smack of a ‘transfer’ in soccer in the January window where players sign on deadline day and play on Saturday.”
Woodward said that just because Shields is eligible for England “that doesn’t mean others should be brushed aside in the stampede to select him.
“Shields is a product of the New Zealand system, won the world championship with their under 20s, has been the captain of the Hurricanes and been talked about as a possible All Black over the years.
“Why not promote from the English game, the Premiership and the RFU’s outstanding under-20 system? Let’s make a virtue of that.
“This is not what international rugby is all about and hands a psychological advantage to New Zealand, who secretly will be finding it highly amusing – no more than that.”
“The immediate promotion of Shields would be an opportunist deviation from the standards we have set ourselves and which many players have adhered to. A worrying, confusing precedent that threatens the vital bond between England players that is the lifeblood of international rugby.”
New Zealand Rugby are yet to confirm Shields’ release.
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
26 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
26 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
26 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen 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.
26 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.
9 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.
26 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?
11 Go to comments