The true extent of England players' workload this season compared to Ireland's laid bare
Last weekend provided the latest compelling evidence that Ireland’s IRFU-contracted stars have it much easier than their club-contracted England counterparts.
Whereas 15 of the 23 players Eddie Jones used in England’s one-point defeat to New Zealand started Premiership matches for 10 different clubs, just three of the 23 Joe Schmidt used in Ireland’s historic win over the All Blacks started for two provinces, three more making appearances off the bench.
Admittedly, three other November 17 heroes were unavailable through injury. Kieran Marmion (ankle) and Jack McGrath (hip) won’t be seen again until 2019, while Jordan Larmour has had a minor procedure on a knee.
But those absences can’t muddy the open secret that Ireland’s leading players don’t have the same demands placed on them by their IRFU-run provinces compared to what private English club owners expect from their Test contingent.
Last Saturday summed up the disparity, Leinster sending a near shadow selection to Dragons. The European Cup/PRO14 double winners had 13 players involved against New Zealand, yet Leo Cullen chose just one for the trip to Wales.
Even that duty wasn’t exactly tiring, Andrew Porter only appearing off the bench for the closing half-hour of a contest already decided at that juncture.
Connacht used none of their New Zealand pair, Munster used two of their four, while Ulster used three of their four.
It’s the type of rotation typical of the historical take-it-or-leave-it Irish approach to the PRO14, a tournament that doesn’t have the Premiership’s horrifying pressures of relegation, and this leeway allows the IRFU’s teams to put greater emphasis on chasing European success.
In the Premiership, only 2017 champions Exeter, who face a European double-header with Gloucester in the coming weekends, tested the depth of their squad. All five players who took on the All Blacks at Twickenham were unavailable when Chiefs visited Harlequins at the Stoop.
Saracens also dipped into their back-up, using just two of four representatives from England’s biggest November match. But Bath, Sale, Harlequins, Leicester, Northampton, Newcastle and Wasps started all the players that were on English duty against the Kiwis.
Unlike the IRFU’s player welfare management system, which is aimed at not flogging its best players over the course of a season and instead seeks to have the stars peak and glitter at specific times, the club pressures which exist in England are evident in the disparity of some current appearances/minutes played statistics.
After duty last weekend, Mark Wilson, Jamie George and George Ford have each started nine club games, a respective 720, 628 and 698 minutes of action for Newcastle, Saracens and Leicester.
Their positional Ireland counterparts from the New Zealand fixture, CJ Stander, Sean Cronin and Joey Carbery have started just six, five and six matches. Stander has featured at Munster for 255 minutes less than Wilson, Cronin at Leinster for 300 minutes less than George and Munster’s Carbery has been less busy than Ford by 191 minutes.
There are other glaring examples. Saracens’ Maro Itoje, Leicester’s Jonny May and Wasps’ Elliot Daly have each started eight club matches, featuring a respective 602, 567 and 673 minutes.
Those figures easily eclipse the schedules of their Irish rivals. Devin Toner is 145 minutes and two starts behind Itoje, Ulster’s Jacob Stockdale 314 minutes and five starts behind May, and Leinster’s Kearney 335 minutes and three starts fewer than Daly.
Of the 23s that lined up against New Zealand, there are only five head-to-heads where the England player has been less busy at his club than his opposite Ireland number, suspension putting Sale’s Chris Aston ahead of Keith Earls while injury is the reason Worcester’s Ben Te’o, who is now on pre-Christmas leave from the club following three England appearances, is way behind Bundee Aki.
These numbers are likely to remain stacked in Ireland’s favour heading into the opening match of the 2019 Six Nations championship, which starts with England coming to Dublin.
Watch: Ireland’s Johnny Sexton admits he had doubts about his head coach Joe Schmidt.
It’s nothing new. Ten weeks after last season finished with Test series success in Australia, just two of the 23 for Schmidt’s Ireland in Sydney were on provincial duty on the opening weekend of the PRO14, Leinster’s Ross Byrne and Munster’s John Ryan. In sharp contrast, 10 weeks after England’s season-ending win in South Africa, 21 of the 23 Jones used in Cape Town were in Premiership action.
Freshening up his best players has never been a headache for Schmidt and the luxury it affords set the tone for his stellar year as World Rugby’s coach of the year with an Ireland team voted World Rugby team of the year.
Coming into the 2018 Six Nations, an assessment of how busy the 41 Lions who toured New Zealand had been since that drawn 2017 series laid bare how Ireland were hot title favourites.
Nine of Ireland’s 11 Lions – 81.8 percent – were available to Schmidt for their opener in France. Only the head-ached Jared Payne and the hip-stricken Sean O’Brien weren’t in his plans.
Meanwhile, five of England’s 15 Lions – a more debilitating 33 percent – weren’t in Jones’ Sunday service thoughts for Italy. Daly, Kyle Sinckler and Jack Nowell were all in casualty, with James Haskell and Joe Marler on the naughty step after on-pitch club misdemeanours.
That was an illustration of how Irish resources are given every opportunity to be at their best for the championship. No Irish player featured in the top 10 list of busiest Lions players heading into that Six Nations.
There were eight England names and two Welsh before you got to Stander sitting in 11th spot with 14 Ireland and Munster appearances and 1,058 minutes. In the top 20 there were just four Irish names compared to 11 England and five from Wales.
Curiously, neither of the two busiest Lions – Bath duo Anthony Watson (1,440 minutes) and Jonathan Joseph (1,401) minutes – saw out the season intact. Each picked up serious injury and they have yet to be seen in 2018/19.
Veteran Irish skipper Rory Best is glad to go with the IRFU flow, only playing for Ulster when it’s thought to be in his best interests.
‘The fact is we get a little bit more time off our feet… we know there’s certain expectations, that you’re not going to go over a certain amount of match minutes, or a certain number of games, whichever the combination is.
‘We know that. You get your head around that and you prepare accordingly. You look on at the other competitions (like the Premiership) to watch rugby, not necessarily to have sympathy for any player welfare issues for them.’
This always-on IRFU green light for resting personnel at provincial level will see Kearney, Johnny Sexton, Tadhg Furlong, Toner, James Ryan and Cronin arrive at The Rec this Saturday champing at the bit, as all are without a match in the 21 days since beating New Zealand.
That’s a rest-up very different from Leinster’s last trip to Bath. Ireland were coming off the back of a despairing 2015 World Cup exit when they went to England six days after a home loss to Wasps and lost again with Leo Cullen only newly in charge.
Now the tables are firmly turned. Cullen is a European champion coach and his rested front-liners, having destroyed Wasps in October before getting to grips with New Zealand for Ireland, are poised to emphasise how the way the IRFU caters for them is a winning formula England boss Jones must envy.
CONTRASTING PICTURE
How the 2018/19 club duties of the England and Ireland 23s who faced New Zealand in November compare:
ENGLAND
673 minutes – Elliot Daly (8 starts+1 sub Wasps)
160 – Chris Ashton (2 Sale)
497 – Henry Slade (6+1 Exeter)
29 – Ben Te’o (1 Worcester)
567 – Jonny May (8 Leicester)
560 – Owen Farrell (7 Saracens)
579 – Ben Youngs (8+1 Leicester)
309 – Ben Moon (5+1 Exeter)
445 – Dylan Hartley (6+2 Northampton)
414 – Kyle Sinckler (6 Harlequins)
602 – Maro Itoje (8 Saracens)
432 – George Kruis (5+1 Saracens)
265 – Brad Shields (4 Wasps)
425 – Sam Underhill (5+3 Bath)
720 – Mark Wilson (9 Newcastle)
628 – Jamie George (9 Saracens)
280 – Alec Hepburn (3+5 Exeter)
356 – Harry Williams (5+3 Exeter)
329 – Charlie Ewels (4+1 Bath)
533 – Courtney Lawes (7 Northampton)
531 – Danny Care (7+1 Harlequins)
698 – George Ford (9 Leicester)
400 – Jack Nowell (5 Exeter)
IRELAND
338 minutes – Rob Kearney (5 Leinster)
320 – Keith Earls (4 Munster)
400 – Garry Ringrose (5 Leinster)
430 – Bundee Aki (5+1 Connacht)
253 – Jacob Stockdale (3+1 Ulster)
352 – Johnny Sexton (5 Leinster)
302 – Kieran Marmion (6+1 Connacht)
309 – Cian Healy (5+1 Leinster)
276 – Rory Best (4+1 Ulster)
331 – Tadhg Furlong (5+2 Leinster)
457 – Devin Toner (6 Leinster)
400 – James Ryan (6 Leinster)
595 – Peter O’Mahony (8 Munster)
331 – Josh van der Flier (5+1 Leinster)
465 – CJ Stander (6 Munster)
328 – Sean Cronin (5+2 Leinster)
176 – Jack McGrath (2+3 Leinster)
277 – Andrew Porter (1+8 Leinster)
483 – Iain Henderson (7 Ulster)
362 – Jordi Murphy (5 Ulster)
360 – Luke McGrath (5+1 Leinster)
507 – Joey Carbery (6+2 Munster)
465 – Jordan Larmour (6 Leinster)
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Comments on RugbyPass
Always reluctant to blame a coach when losses rack up, but Penney must go. The backline is dysfunctional and the coach must carry the can. No cohesion, no idea and in many cases, minimal skill. The trains out of Roma St depart faster than the ball from Crusaders’ set pieces. Wouldn’t be surprised if the forwards went on strike.
1 Go to commentsAdding to earlier comment. Cullen Grace has been playing great at no6. Lio-Willie , who was on fire a few weeks ago, had a bad game. I think Cullen should have been moved to 8 earlier, Dominic Gardiner on earlier. Feel for Quinten Strange , put in a big shift .
4 Go to commentsWe dominated the scrums Ben Curry was all over pitch again .Surely James Harper got to be one of best English tightheads
1 Go to commentsRoos is a better option at 6 than 8 for the boks. Needs to work on his windgat though.
1 Go to commentsThe Sharks’ 2nd team maybe?
1 Go to comments‘radical’
1 Go to commentsCome back to Christchurch Robbie, please!
1 Go to commentsI think there is zero chance Sam Cane will be selected for another Test. There is simply no point except sentimentality. Razor is not sentimental- ask Wyatt Crocket. Razor is a ruthless selector
4 Go to comments> It would be best described as an elegant solution to what was potentially going to be a significant problem for new All Blacks coach Scott Robertson. It is a problem the mad population of New Zealand will have to cope with more and more as All Blacks are able to continue their careers in NZ post RWCs. It will not be a problem for coaches, who are always going to start a campaign with the captain for the next WC in mind. > Cane, despite his warrior spirit, his undoubted commitment to every team he played for and unforgettable heroics against Ireland in last year’s World Cup quarter-final, was never unanimously admired or respected within New Zealand while he was in the role. Neither was McCaw, he was considered far too passive a captain and then out of form until his last world cup where everyone opinions changed, just like they would have if Cane had won the WC. > It was never easy to see where Cane, or even if, he would fit into Robertson’s squad given the new coach will want to be building a new-look team with 2027 in mind. > Cane will win his selections on merit and come the end of the year, he’ll sign off, he hopes, with 100 caps and maybe even, at last, universal public appreciation for what was a special career. No, he won’t. Those returning from Japan have already earned the right to retain their jersey, it’s in their contract. Cane would have been playing against England if he was ready, and found it very hard to keep his place. Perform, and they keep it however. Very easy to see where Cane could have fit, very hard to see how he could have accomplished it choosing this year as his sabbatical instead of 2025, and that’s how it played out (though I assume we now know what when NZR said they were allowing him to move his sabbatical forward and return to NZ next year, they had actually agreed to simply select him for the All Blacks from overseas, without any chance he was going to play in NZ again). With a mammoth season of 15 All Black games they might as well get some value out of his years contract, though even with him being of equal character to Richie, I don’t think they should guarantee him his 100 caps. That’s not what the All Blacks should be about. He absolutely has to play winning football.
4 Go to commentswhat’s happening to Ian Peel?
1 Go to commentsAs a Crusaders fan , so disappointed , again.But I think Fergus Burke was all class for the Crusaders in his first game since October last year. Fletcher Newell , was so good at prop. Johnny McNicoll has been gold since returning from Wales. Noah Hotham brilliant , in a coming of age second season for the Crusaders.Jone Rova did really well at centre. The end of the game was tough.Sevu Reece , what a game/season in tough times.
4 Go to commentsFellas a balloon
3 Go to commentsBlues B team on display and made no race of it. By far the best team in SR with the Hurricanes barely getting past the winning post. Up the Blues 💙
7 Go to commentsWould be amazing to have Servette Genève reaching this level
3 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can't buy a win this season. Surely Penney's contract won't be renewed. There's still enough talent in the squad that they oughta be winning more.
1 Go to commentsABs captain for 23 seasons. Decent record. Surely nobody will surpass it. Legend. But alas a typo…
4 Go to commentsJust FYI Rugbypass, I for one am tired of your clickbait titles and thumbnails and will be clicking them no longer. Good day.
1 Go to commentsI think Farrell despite all of the stick he gets in the media is still one of if not the best fly half in the world. He is literally the full package. He can kick one of the best in the world, probably has the best defensive game of a fly half in the world and if he wants to he can run, take contact and find an offload to keep the pace of the attack. I dont know why he isnt spoken more about still being one of the best in the world with the likes of dupont. Farrell is the ultimate captain and team leader and is experienced- he has been in nearly any situation you can think of. I still believe due to these reasons that he is England’s best ever player and is still one of the best players in the world.
48 Go to commentsBlues are dominating up front and that’s been a long time coming. They have won the up front confrontation which is where canes, hilanders and act brumbies are also strong.
7 Go to commentsJust watched brumbies v safas game sadly not a show in he’ll thryr anywhere near quarters or semi contention. Admittedly some issues around new comers bot what stands out for me is coaching management, poor game planning and accuracy.
5 Go to comments