Have England already found an eventual replacement for Jamie George?
After years of debates in the media and amongst fans over the identity of who England’s openside flanker should be, it seems the focus has now moved further forward in the pack, with the hooker spot now the crux of many fans’ and pundits’ selection anxieties.
Dylan Hartley has overseen a period of almost complete success for England, but his spot in the team, as well as his position as captain, are under constant attack from his detractors. One of the key reasons for this has been the plethora of options England have at the position.
The production line at hooker has chugged along nicely over the last few years, with Jamie George, Luke Cowan-Dickie and Tom Dunn all impressing at their respective clubs, Jack Singleton earning an early England call-up and both Tommy Taylor and Jack Walker seeing their hopes briefly derailed by significant injuries, but are certainly in the conversation moving forward.
There is clearly no shortage of alternates, but that pool could be about to get even larger in the next few years, with Bristol U18s star Will Capon preparing to enter the world of senior rugby full-time.
The 18-year-old is in his last year of schooling at Bristol Grammar School and is a veteran of last season’s England U18s side, proving to be a core member of the group that took on their European rivals in the spring, before travelling to South Africa in the summer to compete in the annual U18 series with South Africa, France and Wales.
Despite still being at school, the hooker has already begun his senior career, featuring in the Bristol United side that beat London Irish in the A League in September, before going on to make his full senior debut, coming off the bench against Doncaster Knights in the British and Irish Cup.
The club are not rushing Capon, though, and since the beginning of the academy league in December, he has been back with the U18s, captaining the side that took apart Bath in the opening round, before losing a tight game with Saracens at Allianz Park in round two.
In terms of the type of player he is, there are certainly shades of Jamie George about Capon.
As a runner, he is a potent mix of elusive, quick and powerful. This can see younger players lean towards pinning their ears back and not being aware of support, but nothing could be further from the truth for Capon, who keeps his head on a swivel and has a proclivity to unlock his arms from contact and pop sympathetic and accurate offloads to his teammates.
The hookers that can do that, both in the tight and in the more open, wider channels, are rightfully praised and you need look no further than George or Cowan-Dickie to see good examples of it, whilst Dane Coles has become the master of this craft down in New Zealand.
He might not dominate at this age-grade level quite as much as Cowan-Dickie did, who had senior-level power before he even left school, but there is one thing that separates Capon from all those other impressive English hookers at this level and that’s what he does with the ball in his hands.
He loves to carry the ball in two hands, which is great to keep defenders guessing and bring in support runners either side of him. Furthermore, he moves from two-hands-on to a one-handed carry in a flash and has a piston of a fend, which allows him either break the tackle and keep running or at least keep the ball free of the tackle and make the offload a possibility.
That technique, decision-making and confidence in his ability to pull it off are all difference-makers at this level and bode well for his future senior career.
His set-piece game is strong, too, but this is inevitably the area where any young front-rower will encounter difficulties upon stepping up to the senior game.
He scrummages well and this is perhaps no surprise, given he played at tighthead prop prior to moving to hooker and a similar move, albeit from loosehead prop to hooker, certainly didn’t hinder Cowan-Dickie’s ability as a scrummager.
Again, he throws well at the lineout, but this will undoubtedly be challenged in the seniors. It is one thing to nail throws at school, academy and age-grade levels, but when you go up against experienced lineout operators who work on disrupting the opposition throw most days of the week and add in the pressure of playing in the seniors, it can put off even the best throwers.
Bristol have a good recent track record in producing front-rowers, with Ellis Genge now an England international, Ollie Dawe a graduate of the U20s and making strides as a tighthead and Tom Rowlands, who was an important part of the U18 side with Capon last year, perhaps just an injury in the U20 EPS away from featuring in the U20 Six Nations and World Rugby U20 Championship.
As for Capon, don’t rule out an early U20 call-up in the summer should injuries hit Gabriel Oghre, Henry Walker or Beck Cutting, but his focus will be on Bristol and the England U18s, the former of whom are in the mix to make finals day at Allianz Park at the end of the season.
The arrival of Pat Lam at Bristol also bodes well for Capon, with the hooker’s skilful play something which could lead to him eventually becoming a mainstay in a Bristol side that are going to be ambitious in the way they play under the Kiwi. High-intensity was a big part of Lam’s sides in Auckland and Galway and that plays into Capon’s wheelhouse.
Bristol and Lam are also keen to build a team with a Bristolian core and there is every chance that Capon will be a big part of that over the coming years.
If he can make that leap, he could find himself in a particularly exciting position battle after the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
Comments on RugbyPass
I wonder what impact Samson has had on their attack, as the team seems less prone to trundle it up the middle, take the tackle and then trundle it up again. I lost faith in the coach last year as the Rebelss looked like a 2nd/3rd rate South African team. I also disliked Gordon standing back, often ignored as the forward battle went on and on. Maybe its our Aussie way of not getting off our A***’s until the enemy is at the gate.
83 Go to commentsThanks for the write up. Great to see the Rebs winning, I am a little interested in how they will go against the remaining kiwi teams, I think they’ve only played Hurricanes and Highlanders but how great to see these players performing!! I also see Parling has a job beyond June 30! A good move by RA? Also how do you fix the Rebels previously scratchy defence?
83 Go to commentsbe smart - go black
13 Go to commentsNext week the Crusaders hopefully have Scott Barrett back. Will be great to have the captain back. Hopefully he will be the All Black captain as well.
12 Go to commentsExciting place to be for the young fella. I expected he was French Polynesian when I saw him included in the France 6N squad (after seeing him in NZs), and therefor be strong grounds we might loose him to rugby down here. Good, in that he is good enough to warrant such a profile, and from a journalism’s fan interaction aspect, to finally get a back ground story on the fella. Hope he has settled into NZ OK and that at least one rugby country will fit with him to help his development, which, if so, he should surely continue for a few years, and then that he can experience France to it’s fullest with a bit more maturity and less reliance on family than you would have at his current age. A good 3 or 4 years before he would be ready for International duty if he wanted to wait. Of course he already sounds good enough to accept a call up, and to cap himself, in the more immediate future (he’d have to be very very good in the case of the ABs), and he’ll get a great taste of that being with the Canes who have a bunch who are just a few years further into their career and looking likely Internationals themselves.
13 Go to commentsI remember towards the end of the original broadcasting deal for Super rugby with Newscorp that there was talk about the competition expanding to improve negotiations for more money - more content, more cash. Professional rugby was still in its infancy then and I held an opposing view that if Super rugby was a truly valuable competition then it should attract more broadcasters to bid for the rights, thereby increasing the value without needing to add more teams and games. Unfortunately since the game turned professional, the tension between club, talent and country has only grown further. I would argue we’re already at a point in time where the present is the future. The only international competitions that matter are 6N, RC and RWC. The inter-hemisphere tours are only developmental for those competitions. The games that increasingly matter more to fans, sponsors and broadcasters are between the clubs. Particularly for European fans, there are multiple competitions to follow your teams fortunes every week. SA is not Europe but competes in a single continental competition, so the travel component will always be an impediment. It was worse in the bloated days of Super rugby when teams traversed between four continents - Africa, America, Asia and Australia. The percentage of players who represent their country is less than 5% of the professional player base, so the sense of sacrifice isn’t as strong a motivation for the rest who are more focused on playing professional rugby and earning as much from their body as they can. Rugby like cricket created the conundrum it’s constantly fighting a losing battle with.
4 Go to commentsOh wow… “But as La Rochelle proved in winning in Cape Town this season, a cross-continental away assignment need not spell the end of days.” La Rochelle actually proved quite the opposite. After traveling to Cape town and back they (back-to-back and current champs) got mercilessly thumped the next week. If travel is not the reason, why else would a full-strength powerhouse like La Rochelle get dumped on their @r$e$ one week later?
26 Go to commentsYou know he can land a winning conversion after the full time siren is up. (Even if it takes two attempts.)
5 Go to commentsA very insightful article from Jake. I would love to know how South African’s feel about their move to Europe. Do you prefer playing in Europe or want to go back to Super Rugby?
4 Go to commentspure fire
1 Go to commentsA very well thought out summary of all the relevant complications…agree with your ”refer the Cricket Test versus 20/20 comparison”. More also definitely doesn't necessarily mean better!
4 Go to commentsMust be something when you are only 19 y.o and both NZ and France want you. Btw he wasn’t the only new caledonian in french U20 as Robin Couly also lived in Noumea until 17. Hope he’s successful wherever he chooses to play.
13 Go to comments“Several key players in the Stade Rochelais squad are in their thirties” South Africans are going to hate the implications of that comment!
5 Go to commentsI know Leinster did a job on La Roche but shortly after HT Leinster were 30-13 ahead of them and at a similar time Toulouse were trailing Exeter. At 60 mins Leinster were 27 ahead but after 67 mins Toulouse were only 19 ahead before Exeter collapsed. That’s heavier scoring by Leinster against the Champions. I think people are looking at Toulouses total a little too much. I also think Northhampton are in with a real chance, albeit I’d put Leinster as favourites. If Leinster make the final I expect them to win by more than ten and with control.
5 Go to commentsHey Nick, your match analysis is decent but the top and tail not so much, a bit more random. For a start there’s a seismic difference in regenerating any club side over a test team. EJ pretty much had to urinate with the appendage he’d been given at test level whereas club success is impacted hugely by the budget. Look no further than Boudjellal’s Toulon project for a perfect example. The set ups at La Rochelle and Leinster are like chalk and cheese and you are correct that Leinster are ahead. Leinster are not just slightly ahead though, they are light years ahead on their plans, with the next gen champions cup team already blooded, seasoned and developing at speed from their time manning the fort in the URC while the cream play CC and tests. They have engineered a strong talent conveyor belt into their system, supported by private money funnelled into a couple of Leinster private schools. The really smart move from Leinster and the IRFU however is maximising the Irish Revenue tax breaks (tax relief on the best 10 years earnings refunded at retirement) to help keep all of their stars in Ireland and happy, while simultaneously funding marquee players consistently. And of course Barrett is the latest example. But in no way is he a “replacement for Henshaw”, he’s only there for one season!!! As for Rob Baxter, the best advice you can give him is to start lobbying Parliament and HMRC for a similar state subsidy, but don’t hold your breath… One thing Cullen has been very smart with is his coaching team. Very quickly he realised his need to supplement his skills, there was talk of him exiting after his first couple of years but he was extremely shrewd bringing in Lancaster and now Nienaber. That has worked superbly and added a layer that really has made a tangible difference. Apart from that you were bang on the money… 😉😂
5 Go to commentsNot sure exactly what went wrong for him at Glasgow but it’s pretty clear he ain’t Franco’s cup of tea. Suspect he would have been better served heading out of Scotland around the same time as Finn, Hoggy and Jonny!
1 Go to commentsBulls disrespected the Northampton supporters and the competition. Decide quickly, fully in or out.
26 Go to commentsI wonder if Parling was ever on England’s radar as a coach? Obviously Borthwick is a great lineout coach, but I do worry he might be taking on too much as both head coach and forwards coach.
1 Go to commentsJason Jenkins has one cap. When Etzebeth was his age he had over 80 caps. Experience matters. He will never amount to what Etzebeth has because he hasn’t been developed as an international player.
2 Go to commentsSays much about the player picking this gig over the easier and bigger rewards offered to him in Japan. Also says a lot about the state sanctioned tax benefits the Irish Revenue offers pro rugby players, with their ten highest earning years subject to an additional 40% tax relief and paid as a lump sum, in cash, at retirement. Certainly helps Leinster line up the financial ducks in a row to fund marquee signings like this!!! No other union anywhere in world rugby benefits from this kind of lucrative financial sponsorship from their government…
5 Go to comments