Nick Easter picks his England backrow to face the Boks... but there's no room for Itoje
Nick Easter believes it would a mistake to hand Maro Itoje the England No6 jersey against a monstrous Springbok pack and is urging Eddie Jones to keep the Saracens forward in the second row at Twickenham on November 3.
This is a must-win test for head coach Jones who has lost six of his last seven internationals with that victory coming in June in the rain of Cape Town against a Springbok team that had already sewn up the series 2-0.
Even though The Boks will be unable to call on English based players Faf de Klerk (Sale), Willie le Roux (Wasps) and Vincent Koch (Saracens) former England captain Easter still sees Rassie Erasmus’s team as a major hurdle to clear.
Easter has a forensic knowledge of the current state of South African rugby as he part of the Sharks coaching team as they prepare for Saturday’s Currie Cup clash with Western Province in Cape Town.
Easter is in South Africa to broaden his coaching experience having left the Harlequins staff when Paul Gustard arrived as the new head of rugby and has been impressed with the talent on offer to Erasmus to support World class forwards like Malcolm Marx and Eben Etzebeth and Duane Vermeulen.
Faced with that kind of forward firepower, Easter, who won 54 England caps and played in three World Cups, wants to see Itoje alongside Courtney Lawes in the heart of the England pack. Itoje scored a spectacular try playing flanker for Saracens against Lyon but Easter said: “Maro Itoje should play at lock because you need your best second rows and I would go for Michael Rhodes at No.6 with Tom Curry at No.7 and Ben Morgan at No.8 with Zach Mercer on the bench.
“Lock is where you are going to get the best out of Itoje in terms of dominating his opposite number.
“Itoje’s best games have been at lock and there are other people who have a skill set at No.6 that he is lacking.
“But at second row he has all the tools and that is what I like about him. In terms of No6; Mark Wilson has been in tremendous form and is quick over the ball and runs intelligent lines; Brad Shields knows the Bok players from Super Rugby and has a good pedigree and then there is Michael Rhodes. I would go with Rhodes because he gives you extra oomph and a line out option so why not give him a go?
“You have to be well prepared for a forward battle with the Boks and I am still confident that England can win with new coaches coming in, including John Mitchell who loves a fast line speed in defence. England could be planning to experiment which I think they should because Eddie needs to nail down his centre partnership, No10 and back row plus the style of play to win the World Cup in Japan.
“Even with the player drain to the North there is a hell of a lot of good talent in South African rugby and what Rassie has done is returned the Boks to their roots and what they are about.
“Of course you have to score tries but there are still some big, hard and tough men here. The players here are wired to be aggressive and work hard which makes a coach’s life easier and it is their default position because they are so passionate about rugby. You don’t need to rev them up because the Springboks just want to knock seven bells out of you.”
Easter played at Newlands during his time with the Villagers club in 2000 when he was picked for Western Province A and is relishing another trip to one of the iconic stadia in rugby which will soon disappear.
“The Currie Cup was different this year and sides have put their best team out because of the shorter format; “ he explained. “ It’s been a great learning experience and I have picked up a hell of lot about rugby here in South Africa.”
Comments on RugbyPass
We’re building a bridge but can't agree where the river is.
2 Go to commentsfirst no arms shoulder or helmet tackle into his rib cage is going to be so very painful even to watch. go back to RU mate.
1 Go to commentsBulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to comments