Tackling Leinster's defence is fitting test for Vesty and his England attack coach aspirations
Following Scott Wisemantel’s departure from the Rugby Football Union (RFU), a number of names have been linked with the vacant England attack coach position, not least Northampton Saints assistant Sam Vesty.
The former Leicester Tiger and Bath player quickly gained stock as a coach at Worcester Warriors, before he headed to Northampton as part of the new coaching staff put together by director of rugby Chris Boyd. Under the Kiwi’s tutelage, Vesty has helped mould Saints into one of the most proficient attacking sides in the Gallagher Premiership.
Their 151 points and 20 tries scored have them ahead of the rest of the pack by two points after five rounds, despite losing a number of players to World Cup duty and/or injury over that period. Saints have also gone two from two in the Heineken Champions Cup, beating Lyon and Benetton, to share top spot in Pool 1 with European powerhouse Leinster.
Northampton would be in no hurry to lose Vesty to England, especially with the club having already parted ways with Alan Dickens, who is the new England under-20 head coach, nor is there any guarantee that Vesty would have the same positive effect under Eddie Jones that he currently has under Boyd.
That said, the results are speaking for themselves on the Franklin’s Gardens pitch and if the RFU want to push forward English coaches, a goal they previously set themselves after they hired Australian Jones, Vesty would have to be one of the top candidates.
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If ever there were an opportunity to impress in an audition for the role, Northampton’s upcoming back-to-back games with Leinster, arguably the team to beat in this season’s European competition, would certainly be it for Vesty and his Northampton charges.
As Saints have the most proficient attack in the Premiership, Leinster have the most stringent defence in the Guinness PRO14. After seven rounds, they are the only side left in that competition to have conceded less than 100 points and their tries conceded total of 11 is also the lowest in the tournament.
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Finding a way to have consistent attacking success against Leinster at Franklin’s Gardens on Saturday and then the Aviva Stadium a week later will likely be the biggest challenge of Vesty’s young and promising coaching career to date. If he can succeed, essentially replicating going up against an almost Test level defence, then the RFU would be mad not to explore further his potential availability moving forward.
Other names have been linked with the role, such as Glen Ella, a person and coach that Jones knows well and who has worked successfully with England before. Exeter Chiefs’ attack coach Ali Hepher helped lead the England Saxons to a 2-0 series victory in South Africa previously, while Jones and England have not been afraid to pursue Saracens coaches before, with Kevin Sorrell having done an excellent job in north London.
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Vesty may not be the most experienced option available, but with Wisemantel and Neal Hatley having both left the set-up and Steve Borthwick widely reported to be moving on after the Guinness Six Nations, bringing in a younger coach with fresh ideas could be the perfect complement the seasoned duo of Jones and John Mitchell.
All eyes will be on Franklin’s Gardens this Saturday to see the blockbuster clash between the two undefeated teams, though Vesty’s influence on the outcome and his potential at a higher level makes for an interesting subplot.
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Comments on RugbyPass
Dagg is still trying to get enough headlines to make himself relevant enough to get a job. The Crusaders went back to square one at all levels. Shelve this season and nail the next one.
4 Go to commentsHe was in such great form. Sad for him but only a short term injury and it will be great to see him back for the finals.
1 Go to commentsAfter their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
3 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
3 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
3 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
37 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats 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?
3 Go to comments