Neil Back: England will target Biggar and his injured knee
Neil Back spent his England career hunting outside halves and today warned Wales No10 Dan Biggar to expect a torrid examination of the knee injury that threatened to rule him out of tomorrow’s Twickenham clash.
Wales, the defending Grand Slam champions, have lost their last two Six Nations matches and new coach Wayne Pivac needs Biggar, who injured his right knee against Saracens last Saturday, to provide the tactical experience to move the team around the pitch in an attempt to outsmart Eddie Jones, the England head coach.
There are concerns over Biggar’s true state of health, but Pivac is adamant the 30-year-old will start his 83rd test match two weeks after triggering debate over his arm waving and public displays of dissatisfaction over refereeing decisions in the loss to France and just seven days after being helped off against Saracens in obvious pain after hyperextending his knee.
Instead of being a target for Saracens flanker Ben Earl – the obvious choice to replace the injured Sam Underhill – Jones drafted in Mark Wilson, who is more familiar with blindside or No8 roles to play No7 against the Welsh who have assembled a combative back row of Ross Moriarty, Justin Tipuric and Josh Navidi.
Back is intrigued by this latest twist in the England backrow tale which has dominated debate around the team ever since Billy Vunipola, the Saracens No8, suffered a fourth broken arm and Jones opted to move Tom Curry to No8 rather than give one of the young guns such as Harlequins Alex Dombrandt a chance to break into the team. Back admits criticising Jones’s selection policy is difficult with the team having got back to winning ways against Scotland and Ireland after the early loss to Slam chasing France.
The back row against the Welsh sees Courtney Lawes at No6, Wilson No7 and Curry at No8 and without Underhill there are concerns about the team’s effectiveness at the breakdown. However, all three know that hitting Biggar hard will be a main priority to test the knee out and unsettle the Welsh attacking game plan.
Back, a 2003 World Cup winner, told RugbyPass: “England will understandably target Biggar and you always look at that channel particularly if someone has had an injury with some doubt to see if they are 100 per cent. Biggar does make his tackles but tends to be upright and he will be tested by players such as Manu Tuilagi running at him. Biggar will have to stand up and be confident and his back row will be trying to add protection.
“Wales have lost two on the bounce and lose another one and it is going to be a poor Six Nations and a disappointing one for coach Wayne Pivac. They could and should have won against France although when the French are going well it does bring a bit of joy to everyone.
“When you are winning your selection is justified. Putting Curry in at No8 in the French game I just hoped he got a steady scrum which we largely did but their scrum half ( Antoine Dupont) got in there and disrupted. After three games at No8 Curry is far more used to the position and we have won the last two. When I saw the selection for Wales I smiled, Tom would rather play 7 or 6 but if you look at my era then three flankers ( Back, Lawrence Dallaglio and Richard Hill) worked well.
“I feel for Sam Underhill who has been playing well and Ben Earl will be disappointed. Wilson has played just one game for Sale because of his knee injury and I am assuming he is 100 per cent fit otherwise Eddie would not have picked him.
“We got dismantled in the 2019 World Cup final at scrum time and now Eddie Jones has brought in that Springbok scrum coach ( Matt Proudfoot) to help with that area of the game. All eight England forwards now scrum longer and the back row is not looking to get their heads up because they are moving forward.”
Back’s major concern for England is the decision to go with a six forwards/two backs split on the replacements bench which worked for South Africa at the World Cup. “ If we lost a Ben Youngs and a couple of backs it then becomes interesting,” added Back. “This is game is all about England getting a good start again and if Wales are to get the win they have to match that start and then keep the Twickenham crowd quiet. All the teams have lacked consistency in this championship and I believe England will dominate physically and at gain line and the backs will profit from it. While we can’t underestimate Wales, I expect England to win well.”
WATCH: Jim discusses the ramifications of the Six Nations going behind a pay wall and no longer being shown on free to watch TV.
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 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
4 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 Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 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!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 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.
30 Go to comments