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.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDvPwFQbrD4
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
Hats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
1 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
1 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
2 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
23 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
2 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
21 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
1 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
2 Go to commentsWhy not let the media decide. Like how they choose the head coach. Like most of us we entrust the rugby system to choose. A rugby team includes the coaches. It's collective.
13 Go to commentsHi NIck, I have been very impressed with him and he seems a smart player who can see opportunities which Bobby V _(who must be an international 6_) doesn’t see or have the speed to take advantage of. If he continues to improve and puts on 5kgs then he could be a great 8. He is a bit taller than Keiran Reid at 1.93m and 111 kgs, so his skill set fits his body size and who knows where it will lead. I hope the spate of Achilles tendon issues have been dealt with by the S&C people. It’s been a very long time since Mark Loane and Kefu stood out at 8. The question is will we be able to hold onto him, if he does make it he will be pretty hot property. I disagree with the idea of letting them go to the Northern Hemisphere and then bring them back.
21 Go to commentsBilly Fulton 🤣🤣🤣🤣 garrrmon not even close
13 Go to commentsDoes the AI take into account refs? hahaha Seriously why not have two on field refs to avoid bias?
23 Go to commentsVern challenging this Blues side might be the edge they need to fulfill their potential. Convincing results from strong D and strong carries are hard to argue against.
1 Go to commentsLove seems to add a strong back field defense with speed to close the gap and tackle to his ability to attack, kick and pass (an accurate long pass). This sets him an edge over some of the other names - JRK in particular. Has to be said that Jordan and Stevenson have also been exposed defensively while Love has yet to face test match intensity. Spoilt for choice.
1 Go to commentsHe’s strung together a few strong seasons, I’d like to see him in the ABs and build some depth along with Reiko and ALB. Levi Aumua hasn’t taken the step we hoped to see but time yet.
2 Go to commentsWhere has our good friend Pecos gone!? Similar place to the Crusaders D, the abyss.
4 Go to commentsNice piece Nick. I haven’t seen much of the brumbies this year so will keep my powder dry on charlie, but clearly has the speed and footwork to be damaging in space. Similar to Samu, I’d worry about the size of our pack if the likes of Mcreight and Cale were in the b/row together. Maybe Cale could play a similar finisher role like Samu did for Rennie’s wallabies. Has Cale leapfrogged wilson in your eyes? He obviously has the lineout, but harry probably better (although not great) in the physical stuff and also has great hands in the loose. You’d have to say mcreight and valetini are shoe-ins at 7/8, so the question becomes who matches best with them at 6 and on the bench. I don’t know if he has a high enough ceiling, but id love to see wright given a shot based on how much bad luck he has had with injuries. He may also fit that no-nonsense graft/work rate irish approach…? If schmidt wants size and a 4/6 tweener then I’d probably pick Uru. On the bench I’d have no idea, Wilson if you want to give valetini a rest, and maybe hanigan/wright/uru as 6 replacements.
21 Go to comments