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Wilson: The journey for us is only just starting

By Chris Jones
Mark Wilson runs during England training (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Mark Wilson was battling to establish himself in the Newcastle Falcons back row as England staged the 2015 Rugby World Cup, but four years later he has a key role to play as part of Eddie Jones’s squad in Japan.

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Wilson and the rest of the England squad arrived in central Tokyo today having been delayed at Narita airport due to travel problems caused by Typhoon Faxia which swept through the Japanese capital and after a night recovering from the flight, the England squad will head to their training base at Miyazaki in the south of the country.

For Wilson, selection in the 31 man England squad is something he sees as merely the first step towards powering the team to World Cup glory and his no-nonsense back row play suits the intensely physical approach Jones is looking for at the tournament. With pool games against Tonga and USA in quick succession before the pool deciding clashes with Argentina and France, England will need the abrasive attitude that is the hallmark of Wilson’s rugby and which allowed him to break into test rugby.

Wilson, who turns 30 in the middle of the World Cup (Oct 6), has won 14 caps and his performance in the 37-0 win over Italy in his native North East on Friday night encapsulated the strengths that saw him not only become indispensable for Newcastle but impossible for Jones to ignore. Wilson’s need for top flight rugby means he will operate on loan at Sale Sharks in the Premiership, however, that switch in allegiance won’t happen until England have completed their World Cup campaign.

Wilson, whose face bears the scars of his back row trade,  said: “Some of the performances in our warm up games were really good but the journey for us is only just starting. Now we are in the business end of things and, hopefully, we can keep on improving. The World Cup is really going to test us and some games are no going to go our way and it is how we react to those challenges and the Italy game was a perfect example. We didn’t get frustrated or panic and the great thing is that we are still building as a squad, getting closer as a team.

“In all honestly, the World Cup is going to be a new experience for some of us and we have to be ready for anything and it is important that we problem solve as a group. I have never been to Japan before and we went to Italy to train in the kind of humid climate that we are going to have to face and we learnt a lot about how handle the ball in those conditions and how to deal with things when the intensity of the game rises.

“We have been training for the biggest tournament in the world and it has been a physical challenge. We have learned a lot about ourselves and I have loved it.”

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Wilson and his England team mates are set to share a bonus fund of nearly £7m if they win the World Cup with the Times revealing each player could bank more than £200,000 each for repeating the 2003 success in Australia.

Jonny Wilkinson on why England can win the World Cup

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Jon 6 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 9 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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A
Adrian 11 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

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