The exclusion of Farrell and other key England team talking points
It has been a busy Thursday for England, finishing off their preparations before flying to Dublin this afternoon for this Saturday’s Summer Nations Series clash with Ireland amid all the heated debate over their skipper Owen Farrell.
That controversy took another twist during the day, World Rugby exercising their right to appeal Tuesday’s decision by an independent disciplinary hearing to free Farrell to play with immediate effect after they rescinded the red card brandished to him last Saturday versus Wales.
This notice of appeal has resulted in England opting to omit Farrell from their match day 23 to face their Irish. Here, RugbyPass takes a look at those decisions and some of the other major talking points from an XV showing six changes from last weekend:
Ford silver lining to Farrell’s absence
Ahead of his scheduled Thursday evening media briefing in Dublin, Borthwick used the England team media release as an opportunity to get his explanation out there for not selecting Farrell to play this weekend even though he was cleared to do so on Tuesday.
Borthwick claimed his “original planning” for the Summer Nations Series was to play Farrell in Dublin against his father Andy’s Ireland team, but the impact which the preparation for Tuesday’s three-and-a-half-hour virtual hearing had on the skipper’s training was what counted against him when it came to selection.
There was no reference in Borthwick’s quotes regarding Thursday’s development that World Rugby are appealing Tuesday’s disciplinary hearing verdict, re-opening the possibility of Farrell receiving a ban that would affect his Rugby World Cup participation.
If there is a bright side to all the controversy regarding Farrell it is that George Ford is set to start his first match for England since the March 2021 Guinness Six Nations thrashing by the Irish at Aviva Stadium, a game where he was partnered at half-back by Ben Youngs, this weekend’s No9 following the cruel injury that has ruled out Jack van Poortvliet.
The Ford/Youngs combination, which was named on the replacements bench last weekend, enormously helped to rescue England from their perilous situation versus the Welsh.
Now is their big opportunity to show they can create some oomph from the off and potentially provide Borthwick’s generally struggling team with a more creative alternative to the Farrell/van Poortvliet combination which hadn’t gelled. The starving England attack needs it to work.
No load sharing for three particular players
Load is a word that had been regularly heard this month from all the countries preparing for the World Cup in France. The four-match England Summer Nations Series programme was crafted so that plenty of minutes would be spread around to ensure the 33-strong squad is as ready as it can be for an RWC schedule that begins versus Argentina in Marseille on September 9.
The naming of Anthony Watson and Manu Tuilagi to start and the inclusion of Ollie Chessum on their bench means that just three of the current 33 have yet to feature this month.
Injury rehabbers Jack Walker and Tom Curry are still off limits while Alex Mitchell, who was called into the squad on Monday after confirmation of the seriousness of van Poortvliet’s ankle injury, wasn’t considered against the Irish, Danny Care instead named as the scrum-half cover behind Youngs.
There are anomalies to this spreading of the load, however. Saturday’s Aviva Stadium fixture will be the third consecutive start for full-back Freddie Steward, midfielder Joe Marchant and tighthead Will Stuart, while Ollie Lawrence has been chosen as 23rd man after two starts at centre.
That’s a busy schedule and the hope will be that it won’t prove too much for them given the heavy-duty task on the horizon in France. Sub hooker Theo Dan is another who has been chosen for his third successive match but while he got minutes in Cardiff, he was left stewing on the bench for the entire 80 versus Wales – a situation that highlighted the importance of the clear first-choice No2 Jamie George.
Time for Billy V to zip through the gears
Last week’s build-up heavily featured Billy Vunipola and his first England appearance since the 2022 Autumn Nations Series when Eddie Jones was still in charge. It was very much a stuck-in-second-gear performance from the No8 against the Welsh, but he has a habit of being a slow burner when returning from a layoff.
Just 22 metres from nine carries was not the sort of dominant effort that England were banking on Vunipola bringing to the mix now that they have axed Alex Dombrandt from their plans. That was a third-best return from an England forward, Ben Earl and George generating better ball-carrying stats.
Vunipola gets a second go this weekend to get up to speed and there are no excuses for an improvement not to happen, especially as he has been named in an unchanged back row with Courtney Lawes and Earl.
If the theory is they should grow as a combination the more they play, getting more familiar and composed with each other, what they construct will be of crucial importance against the Irish.
Comments on RugbyPass
“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.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 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.
2 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.
37 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
2 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…
1 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 commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
5 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
33 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
5 Go to comments