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Vesty: What England A are hoping to see from Ollie Hassell-Collins
England A assistant coach Sam Vesty is hopeful that Ollie Hassell-Collins can use the February 25 fixture versus Portugal in Leicester as his opportunity to remind Steve Borthwick what he has to potentially offer at Test level.
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Borthwick handed the 25-year-old his senior debut last year in his first game in charge of England after succeeding Eddie Jones as head coach.
Hassell-Collins, who was then attached to London Irish, started in the Guinness Six Nations against Scotland at Twickenham and he was also chosen for the following weekend’s match versus Italy at the same venue.
However, he slipped down the pecking order after that and hasn’t featured for England until getting included in the 27-strong A team squad that was named on Thursday morning to face the Portuguese at Mattioli Woods Welford Road, the ground that is now Hassell-Collins’ club home since his switch last summer from the Exiles.
Northampton head coach Vesty will be the England A team attack coach, working under George Skivington, and having himself played at A level before eventually winning two Test caps in 2009, he knows the value of A team exposure for the likes of Hassell-Collins and other wannabe England seniors.
“It’s a good shop window for everyone and him being no different to all the other guys,” reckoned Vesty. “Hopefully we will see the backs with the ball in their hands and just putting their best foot forward.
“It’s such a good shop window to go and do it away from perhaps some of the pressures of the Premiership week in, week out, a different environment.
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“All these challenges that you have got to overcome to do it at international level and hopefully we will see him running with the ball and that is probably what is going to get him that further step up.
“Looking from outside not knowing quite a few of these guys, they are a talented bunch. There is a lot of potential, a lot of good, dangerous runners, a lot of good skillful players on the ball and I think we will be able to play quite a fast game. We will be able to move the point of attack well and have lots of threats doing that with some good power carriers as well.”
The group of 27 named on Thursday will be added to next Tuesday evening after Borthwick decides on his match day 23 to face Scotland in the Six Nations on February 24, the day before the A team game in Leicester.
Some players who don’t make the Six Nations cut will be released to Skivington and co, which was why an area such as the midfield looked light in numbers when the squad of 27 was initially named. Vesty, who wasn’t involved in the A squad selection, doesn’t know exactly how many currently in Borthwick’s current squad of 36 for Scotland will drop down.
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“No clarity,” he said. “It will be up for grabs who is going to get into the first-team and that will obviously filter down… People who don’t make the 23 from the first squad will be coming back down to get some rugby in the A group. That will be a little bit of fluidity between those two squads so we’ll have a little bit more coming on that.
“I wasn’t involved in the selection at all. George and Steve looked after that. I’ve seen the squad, a really good young squad, and you can tell there is a lot of talent to choose from and we have come to a really good spot.
“We want these guys to be given an opportunity to put their best foot forward and actually really go and show what they are about and in an environment they can play rugby, they can play what’s in front of them and really go in there backing themselves. Effectively putting their best foot forward to hopefully gain experience and get further recognition down the line because it is a development tool for England.
“International rugby is different off the pitch because you get together with a new group and within a week, within a short period of time, you have got to be trying to do the same things with your teammates and that’s a challenge we should be setting our young, upcoming rugby players.
“You get that at the 20s and there has probably been a gap between the 20s and the full international team that this England A facilitates really nicely.”
For Vesty, the challenge of coaching well at representative level is something he is relishing. “It’s a very different challenge to what we are used to.
“We have put our heads together and come up with a plan of how we are going to do it and effectively it’s keeping things as simple as possible and getting people swimming in the same direction, and then giving them a load of energy to go and put that on the pitch.
“You can’t reinvent the wheel in a week, you can’t overdo the tactical side of it because the last thing players want to be doing when they are running around representing themselves in an England A shirt is to be overthinking things. We want to keep it really simple and allow them to go and be really good rugby players which they are.
“We have been given a remit to go and coach how we want to coach and put our philosophies out onto the pitch. To in a week try and implement a game plan that the England team are doing is going to be very difficult, so simplicity is going to be absolutely the key and the way forward.
“We have been picked to go and do what hopefully we are good at and hopefully give the boys an opportunity in that manner, we have been given some license in that respect.”
Comments on RugbyPass
No question they were the better team. But that is the beauty of sport isn’t it!
95 Go to commentsEveryone is into Hurling in Ireland according to Porter, but only 11 of Ireland's 32 counties enter a team into the national competition. Same old blarney.
1 Go to commentsLet’s be honest. The draw and scheduling in the World Cup was a joke but South Africa found a way after having to go the hard (nearly impossible) way to the Cup Final via France and England. NZ had a hard game against France (lost) and had 5 weeks to prepare for the Quarter, 3 weeks knowing it was Ireland. NZ theerfore had to win one big game against an Irish team who played SA and then Scotland 7 days before. They won and it was de facto a semi final because they were playing a relatively weak Argentina team and it was a walk over. In the final a very rested NZ team was playing a very tired SA team and still lost. They couldn’t score more than 11 points. Put another way SA had to find a way to win while tired and they achieved that. NZ should thank their lucky stars that they fixed the scheduling in 2015 otherwise they would be dealing with a Bok treble.
95 Go to commentsPerhaps if Bongi wasn’t targeted and removed from the game in the first 3 minutes it would have been quite a different game. Maybe if NZ also faced the same competition the Boks faced to their win NZ would have looked quite different. The final score shows who outplayed who.
95 Go to commentsRubbish article! Abuladze played most of Exeters matches when fit. He got injured against Glasgow a while ago and is out for the rest of the season, thats why he hasnt played for Exeter and Georgia recently. Do some proper research next time!
1 Go to commentsGotta love it when kids throw their toys out the pram and can’t hack it with the grown ups debate. Here’s looking at you turlough! 😉🤣
147 Go to commentsThey lost the game period move on
95 Go to commentsSpringboks won! Stop winging. You can change the game however much you and your rugby colonizing IRB want to and the Springboks will win you at that too. Your mind is colonized my friend get a life
95 Go to commentsBen, nobody gets fooled anymore by selective and biased data to support an hypothesis. Games are decided on such small margins these days that you win some and lose some, and dominance is a thing of the rugby past. Look at the RWC circle of fortune…. Ireland beats SA who beat France who beat NZ who beat Ireland. And so it goes on. Match officials help to eliminate real indiscretions. If they had been with us years before, no doubt results would have been different. Remember Andy Haden’s dive from a lineout in 1978 for which a match-wining penalty was awarded? Wales should have beaten the ABs that day. They took the loss like the gentlemen they were.
95 Go to commentsWith all the analysis and how good the all blacks were.The fundamental mistake with the ABs is that this is a test match and not an exhibition.There is no better team(country) in world rugby than the Boks that knows how to win a test match(we are post masters at this).We know our rules, we have the discipline, we tackle like beasts, we take our points and we never give up.I now have educated the ABs supporters(at least say thank you).Please stop “bitching” , accept what the outcome is and move along swiftly.
95 Go to commentsAnd they came from behind to win two big games before the final. No one can say what would have happened. Had the boks gone behind the game plan changes and the result may changes. Ifs and ands are irrelevant. The boks won. Neutral critics enjoyed the games they played. Its not a popularity contest. Get over it and move on.
95 Go to commentsI'm happy for the people of SA to get a second WC. And I mean that. I was very disappointed with this man's “stand on the hand” incident with Josh Van Der Flyer (Ireland). Ireland's downfall in the last WC was they did not rotate their first 15 as the head coach probably should have. That said, I'm happy for SA and genuinely hope it lifts the mood in their country. Ireland did beat them in the first match of the tournament. And before the trolls start trolling ….. please don't bother. Etzbeth said recently that the Irish players said after the match “see you in the final”…..this was actually wishing the SA team the best of luck in the rest, the Irish team were not dismissing the AB’s. This is what Etzbeth was implying. But he was wrong. I no longer live in Ireland. But I hope to see them lift that cup before I pass. Anyway, congratulations SA. 👍
12 Go to commentsMore bloody click bait. Dan Carter has said absolutely nothing. As he should do. Poor journalism again from a site that should know better
9 Go to commentsOh god please help these loosers get over it!!!! You lost. Doesn't matter how many times you dummies are gonna analyse the game, you still lost and we are still Rygby World Champions….get over it, you lost.
95 Go to commentsThe next Willie le Roux. SA are made not to use him.
3 Go to commentsDan has always been as controversial as tea with milk so we were never going to get any definitive answer. So DMac for the win.
9 Go to commentsGoodness. When are the All Blacks and New Zealand commentators going to stop complaining about how they could have won and just try to win next time 😂. In South Africa if you lose you get up and try again. Get over it.
95 Go to commentsHonestly, it doesn’t matter a whole lot. RSA has a ton of experienced talent in its leadership group. I am more interested in who is the new 8 man/8 men and the younger props. The captain may change but the system does not
1 Go to commentsBen, you are one of the most arrogant and self opionated rugby critics I have ever come across (next to Keohane). I hoped that after SA beating the best ranked teams in the world on their way to the WC (something not done before) that you might have the grace to admit that this is a special team that deserved the accolades coming their way. You have no humility and as has been been already pointed out, merely a troll to attract audience numbers. Count me out in the future.
95 Go to comments‘War of independence’. Such a grand name for a few skirmishes. Where were all the great battles of this ‘war’ ? Smith got goosebumps as he was being emotionally manipulated, another mushroom.
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