The 'rip it up' England team Woodward wants Borthwick to pick
Ex-England coach Clive Woodward has remarkably called on current boss Steve Borthwick to radically alter his Rugby World Cup squad before next Monday’s World Rugby deadline for the tournament.
August 28 is the final day for countries to submit the names of their 33-strong panels for France and although the English have officially named their choices, the 2003 RWC-winning coach has claimed some players should be dropped – including the banned Billy Vunipola.
The No8 became one of two players – the other was skipper Owen Farrell – to be suspended in midweek in a brutal 12-hour period for Borthwick.
Vunipola was given a three-match ban, a sanction that can be cut to two by tackle school, for his red-carded tackle on Ireland’s Andrew Porter, while Farell was handed a four-match suspension with no scope to reduce it for his red-carded tackle on Wales’ Taine Basham.
It rules both players out of England’s opening matches at the World Cup versus Argentina and Japan and while Vunipola can become available for selection versus the Japanese in Nice once he successfully completes tackle school, Woodward has called on Borwthick to drop the player from his World Cup squad altogether and instead bring Zach Mercer to France.
Mercer was cut from England’s RWC training squad at the end of June, but Woodward now wants him recalled at the expense of Vunipola. He has also demanded the selection of regular full-back Freddie Steward at inside centre so that England commit to the past their reliance on a midfield built around Manu Tuilagi.
He would pair Steward with Henry Slade, a player axed from the Worl Cup squad when announced earlier this month, and would also bring in the firepower of the overlooked Adam Radwan.
To cap the alterations, he would pick Anthony Watson at full-back, start Marcus Smith with Alex Mitchell at half-back, promote rookie Theo Dan at hooker, switch Courtney Lawes to the second row and bring in Tom Curry at blindside.
Woodward said this would be his ideal team to take on Fiji this Saturday in the final Summer Nations Series of the four-match England warm-up programme. However, with three of his preferences not even in camp, he was looking for a different team from the XV that Borthwick was to eventually confirm at 12:45pm on Thursday.
Writing in his latest Sportsmail column, Woodward reckoned: “England should rip up their World Cup squad and start again. World Rugby rules permit a coach to take out players and bring new ones in up until August 28. Steve Borthwick should do exactly that.
“It would be harsh to tell players who were expecting to go that they are no longer travelling to France. But as a head coach, you must make tough calls. And let’s be fair, the players haven’t set the world alight in the two games with Wales and defeat by Ireland. The message should be clear: ‘Sorry, but you have had your chance.’
“England must throw caution to the wind as they are in a real corner now. World Cups are not about development. They are about winning. Nothing else matters… Sometimes, you have to tear up your plans. Borthwick has to react to ensure England are in the best possible place to beat Argentina and Japan.
“If England bring in a host of new players for this weekend and it doesn’t work, then they haven’t lost anything. They can still revert to the current crop and double down. Given his ban, Vunipola should not go to the World Cup.
“He is not the player of four years ago. Zach Mercer would bring some much-needed pace to the team. Vunipola can rejoin the squad if there are injuries in France, which is almost a given.”
With a view to getting the most out of playing Smith at out-half, Woodward went on to explain his rationale for selecting Steward at No12. “To get the most out of Smith, he needs a back line equal to his attacking talents and a licence to play. With this in mind, I would consider playing Freddie Steward at inside centre.
“Steward is a great defensive full back but England need a running threat there which is why I would play Anthony Watson. For too long England’s midfield thinking has been dominated by Manu Tuilagi.
“We need to get creative. Steward is strong defensively and he would do well in midfield. New Zealand switched Jordie Barrett from 15 to 12 through necessity rather than by design and it has worked a treat. Against Fiji, I’d play Steward and Henry Slade at centre.
“It was a big call to leave out Slade in the first place but the paucity of the side’s backline displays in the last three weeks has shown England badly miss his footballing ability.”
Woodward fascinatingly went on to explain his other changes and the reasons for them, concluding: “England have nothing to lose now. Given the current direction of travel, it is conceivable that Borthwick’s team might not even qualify from their pool. That would be unthinkable for English rugby and must be avoided at all costs.”
Clive Woodward’s England team versus Fiji:
15. Anthony Watson; 14. Adam Radwan, 13. Henry Slade, 12. Freddie Steward, 11. Henry Arundell; 10. Marcus Smith, 9. Alex Mitchell; 1. Ellis Genge, 2. Theo Dan, 3. Kyle Sinckler, 4. Maro Itoje, 5. Courtney Lawes (capt), 6. Tom Curry, 7. Ben Earl, 8. Zach Mercer.
- Click here to read the full Clive Woodward Sportsmail column
Comments on RugbyPass
Danny 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.
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.
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 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 …
35 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
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