'The England pack is probably the smallest, least physical pack we have had'
Former captain Nick Easter has delivered a withering verdict on Steve Borthwick’s attempt to make England a competitive force at the Rugby World Cup and insists the head coach should have chosen Zach Mercer and Tom Willis ahead of the banned Billy Vunipola to give the squad much needed dynamic ball carrying at No8.
Controversially, Borthwick opted to pack his back row with No7’s and one of those – Ben Earl – must reprise his part-time role at No8 against the powerful Fiji pack on Saturday which includes in-form No8 Bill Mata.
The 54-cap former England No.8 told RugbyPass: “The England pack of the last year is probably the smallest, least physical pack we have had. Borthwick is playing a game that is set up for monster forward pack that is going to get more than parity yet picks a bunch of No7’s and one No8 – it just doesn’t make sense. I don’t understand the logic behind it.
“We cannot grind teams down – we are not a side capable of doing that – and to select one No.8 and a group of brilliant No.7s means you are not going to have guys with the tonnage to make the hard yards – it just doesn’t add up.
“In my opinion, Billy Vunipola hasn’t been playing well for three or four years and now he is banned. Billy was world-class in 2016-17 but has been nowhere near that form and it may be that teams have caught up with him or he has lost that dynamism. I am absolutely shocked that Zach Mercer wasn’t taken. I would have taken Zach and Tom Willis because I don’t think Alex Dombrandt had a good Six Nations – there is too much looseness in his game. He needs to work on physicality in the close quarters.
“Zach was player of the year in France and that cannot be ignored. For decades England have wasted world class talent and we continue to do that and it is very frustrating. It was the same when I was playing for England and we still don’t seem to be getting it right.
“Over the years, England have had trouble with No.10, No.12 and deciding on a fetcher at No.7, but we never had an issue with tighthead prop, right-hand lock and No8 in terms of producing those players of a good size. I am not one for size wins matches but a good big un beats a good little un.
“The way Steve Borthwick has set England up is to play like South Africa of 2019 and 2021 with the best forward pack, best kick chase and the best defence because you have the best physical guys. We haven’t. The Six Nations proved that last year and nothing has changed. “
Easter knows all about difficult World Cup campaigns having been involved in the 2007 tournament that saw England hammered 36-0 by South Africa in the pool stages and then dramatically changed their fortunes to eventually lose to the Springboks in the final in Paris. Many England fans are hoping Borthwick can mastermind a similar transformation after lack lustre warm-up games but Easter does not believe the current squad has the necessary manpower.” My God I hope something like that happens again because we need a revival of English rugby; “ added Easter.
“I am not sure it will because while like this squad we had quality players who may have been past their best, at least those guys in 2007 were in the pack and we had some huge forwards. We were capable of dominating teams. It is more difficult to rip up a game plan and say we are now going to throw the ball to all parts because that kind of tactical plan takes years to sort out as Ireland have shown under Andy Farrell.”
Easter, the former Newcastle, Worcester defence coach, has been undertaking a forwards and defence role with the USA and has just watched the Eagles lose 22-7 to Georgia who are in the same World Cup pool as Wales, Australia, Fiji and Portugal. The Georgian pack remain a real threat and they have added a couple of talented backs to improve their attack as Scotland will find out at Murrayfield this weekend.
Easter, who is director of rugby at Chinnor RFC, explained: “It will be a good test and I would expect Scotland to win by 20 points especially coming off two testing games with the French. Australia are really struggling in the front row and their attack isn’t clicking and if Joe (Worsley) drills the Georgian defence to stay connected they can really tie up the Aussies because they will be bigger and heavier.
“They could really suffocate the Aussies while also turning the screw in the scrum. We saw the Welsh struggle against Georgia when they brought on their replacement front rowers. Having been on top in the first half it was a case of good night nurse when they changed personnel and the Georgian replacement front rowers were like a hot knife through butter and it won them the game. “
Comments on RugbyPass
“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
1 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
3 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
3 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
3 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy 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 comments