Only three big wins will do for England – Andy Goode
There’s been a lot of talk about injuries, selection and even a training game against Wales but it’s time to get down to business and nothing short of three comfortable wins will constitute a success for England this autumn.
It’d be fascinating to be a fly on the wall at the training match between the English and Welsh forwards in Bristol today. I’ve seen these sorts of exercises many times throughout my career at different clubs and at international level and a lot of the time it does descend into a bit of a scrap because there are no consequences if you’re offside or cheating at a driving maul or pulling on someone’s arm in the lineout.
Nigel Owens is one of the best referees in the world and he is there to oversee it but, in reality, it’s very different to refereeing a regular game with all the cameras and coverage they get. He can penalise people but there are no consequences because it’s just a training game and nobody’s going to get cited.
It can be a dangerous proposition, players can be overly physical and there might be injuries as well but those involved won’t have played at the weekend and it will give them a competitive session and replicate the physicality they’ll face in the autumn internationals.
Whether it’s supposed to be full throttle or not, I guarantee that the players won’t want to leave that session knowing that they were part of the pack was shoved around in the scrum or dominated at lineout time.
It should help focus England’s minds and step things up ahead of the weekend as Eddie Jones has said they haven’t been able to do the intense training they wanted to so far because there have been a few injuries and the other bodies are sore from the relentless nature of the Premiership and Champions Cup.
This is a good way for him to get that intensity he wants at the start of this week but international coaches do have to understand that you can’t just flog players during the short time you have them and you have to manage their workload and take into account what they’ve done over the past six to eight weeks.
Jones’ main job is selection and the big talking point for fans is at hooker and whether the England captain deserves his place when Jamie George is the country’s form hooker.
We all know the Saracens man would be in on form but selection isn’t just down to form and there are other factors to consider. Eddie Jones is a big believer in Dylan Hartley and the extra edge he brings to the team as a leader, with Jamie George making an impact off the bench, so I don’t expect that to change.
The balance between the second row and back row is the most difficult dilemma though.
Courtney Lawes has been tearing up trees for Northampton and Jones said last week that his fire has gone out. That could be mind games and an attempt to motivate him but I can only assume it’s getting his explanation in early for when he picks Chris Robshaw, Sam Underhill and Nathan Hughes in the back row.
Robshaw looks likely to be in the starting XV and that is purely due to his experience because on form he is nowhere near the best number six in England. I would say he is third choice.
Lawes is in much better form but he doesn’t have that international experience in the back row. He has only started one Test at flanker and that was all the way back in the 2013 Six Nations against France, so you can see why Robshaw would get the nod for his leadership and to get the balance right.
Eddie Jones has boxed himself into a corner a bit by saying that Robshaw isn’t a number seven because, if he wanted to fit him in, our best back row might be Lawes, Robshaw and Hughes.
As pundits and fans, we just look at who’s in form but it’s only the coach’s opinion that counts and he has to look at the DNA of his team and consider the make-up of the side. He sees what goes on in camp and selects the team accordingly and you can’t argue with his record.
The same debate around balance and experience applies to the outside centre berth as well but it has to be Henry Slade’s time to shine this autumn. He has been streets ahead of Jonathan Joseph this year in club rugby and if he doesn’t get his chance now, I’m not sure when he will.
If Elliot Daly’s fit to start on the wing, then there might be a chance of starting Anthony Watson at full back and playing Semesa Rokoduguni or Denny Solomona on the other wing.
However, picking a back three of Watson, Rokoduguni and Solomona, or even Jonny May, would be a step too far as they are all x-factor players and you don’t want to throw too many unknown quantities in at once as well.
Watson would be the exciting choice at full back but if Eddie Jones doesn’t have his first choice wingers available, I expect him to stick with Mike Brown because of the solidity he provides at the back.
I go back to Martin Johnson when he got the England job in 2008 and chucked a load of youngsters in there together because they were in form and then had to backtrack after they were heavily beaten by Australia, South Africa and New Zealand in the autumn internationals.
Jones won’t be making a similar mistake.
Some coaches say that it’s all about performance and if you get that right, then the result will take care of itself but I believe England will be aiming for significant wins against Argentina and Australia to make a real statement going forwards and that means winning by 25 points rather than five.
England beat Argentina 27-14 last November and that was with Daly having been sent off after five minutes. We also beat them 2-0 in the summer with a scratch side and if you add into the mix that the Pumas have only won one of nine games in 2017 and that was against Georgia, England should be winning comfortably.
You can’t underestimate them as they have players that can run a game and ones that can burn you as well but anything less than a big win this Saturday will be a major disappointment.
Australia will be the real test next week but I still expect England to have too much as the game wears on and come away with a 15 or 20-point victory in the end and then the third game against Samoa will be an opportunity to try some of the younger players.
I think it’s a great idea from Mako Vunipola and Manu Tuilagi to encourage the England boys, who are reportedly getting around £22,000 per match this autumn, to give just five per cent of that or £1,000 to Samoa as their players are only earning £650 for playing in the same game.
They understand what it’s like for the Pacific Island nations and it shows they’re not just thinking about themselves. It’ll be great if they can get the other players on board but it’s down to the RFU to make more of a gesture to the Samoa Rugby Union and World Rugby to address the situation.
The match is thought to be generating £10 million and Samoa should be getting a greater share of the profits for the good of the game and to ensure that they’re sustainable moving forwards.
Comments on RugbyPass
An 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
1 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 Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to comments