Woodward names the player England must build their backline around
Former England coach Clive Woodward has chosen the player he believes that struggling England must build their backline around – and it’s not Marcus Smith. Eddie Jones’ squad flew out on Tuesday for their three-Test tour of Australia, hoping to put a run of poor form in 2022 behind them.
Having won just two of their five matches in the recent Guinness Six Nations, England came an embarrassing cropper at home to a 14-man Barbarians last Sunday at Twickenham. These disappointing performances have heaped the pressure on Jones to quickly find a solution with the countdown now on towards the 2023 World Cup in France.
Woodward will be closely looking at what Jones does with his England backline in Australia, fearing there is too much uncertainty surrounding selection due to the constantly changing approach being taken by a coach whose choices have lacked consistency.
While Woodward reckoned that England have six world-class players in the forwards, he explained his concerns with the situation going on behind the scrum and insisted it quickly needs sorting out by Jones building a backline around young full-back Freddie Steward.
The 21-year-old was first capped in the 2021 Summer Series but he now has ten caps after starting every England Test match over the course of the last year and has flown out to Australia as a recently crowned Gallagher Premiership winner after featuring in Leicester’s win over Saracens last Saturday.
Woodward now wants Jones to get real with selection and he explained why in his latest Sportsmail column which was published on Wednesday, three days after England were left embarrassed in the non-capped international against the Barbarians. “Winning is the only thing that matters. Selection is an art, not a science. Jones has lost the knack of spotting individuals who are ‘wow’ players – the turnover is of concern given the quality at his disposal,” he wrote.
“You have to have the mindset that the next game is going to be your last as coach, it really does focus the mind. I used to think about how many of my players would get in the best team in the world. If I could get to six then you knew you’d be in a decent position, and from there the coaching and style of play becomes straightforward.
“In Olympic terms, they talk about the podium and whether an athlete is gold, silver or bronze. You want gold medal players who are the best in the world in their positions and we do have a few of these, but largely in the forwards.
“The six players on the ‘podium’ in the forwards are Ellis Genge, Kyle Sinckler when fit, Maro Itoje, Courtney Lawes (as a second row), Billy Vunipola and Tom Curry. England have to find out who is our starting hooker and blindside flanker and the pack is very good indeed, strong enough to go to a World Cup with total confidence, even relish.
“But when you move on to the backs, it’s a different kettle of fish. I’ve no issues with Danny Care returning, as long as Eddie can say he’s the best in England, I don’t care if he’s 50 or 18, he’s got to be the best to leapfrog those other players. We have Marcus Smith and Owen Farrell at ten and for me, it is either/or, but not together under any circumstances.
“They are both ‘podium’ No10s but Farrell is not a twelve. If the World Cup was this weekend I would have no hesitation in starting Owen at ten and as captain and cannot understand how he attracts so much flak. Smith’s day will come, but is he the best at the moment? We seem to take comfort in the number of good players we have but it is not numbers, it is world-class players in your starting XV that counts.
“Where England are all over the place is at nine, eleven, twelve, 13 and 14. We don’t know who the best players are for international rugby. Freddie Steward is a gold player but at full-back, not on the wing. Even Manu Tuilagi is not on the podium as we’ve not seen enough of him over the last two years.
“I’d build my back division around Steward at full-back – he’s that good – but can someone in the England camp start saying so and loudly? England’s problems have reinforced the need for a director of rugby at the RFU. Such a position has been essential for the last 25 years. We’ve had a series of chief executives who think they’re qualified for the role, but in truth have not played rugby since their schooldays.
“Bill Sweeney is a good guy but his biggest weakness is he’s a fan. He loves being part of the team. That is a big mistake. A proper director of rugby supports the head coach but leaves him with zero excuses. England are in a corner now and if it were to go wrong in Australia, they would be in a real hole which will take some fixing with just over a year to the World Cup.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Did the highlanders party too hard before the game? They were the pits.
1 Go to commentsWhat a player! Not long until he’s in the England side, surely?
1 Go to commentsHe seems to have the same aura as Marcus Smith - by which I mean he’s consistently judged as if he’s several years younger than he actually is. Mngomezulu has played 24 times for the Stormers. When Pollard was his age he had played 24 times for South Africa! He has more time to develop, but he has also had time to do some developing already, and he hasn’t demonstrated nearly as much talent in that time as one would expect. If he is a generational talent, then it must be a pretty poor generation.
4 Go to commentsThe greatest Springbok coach of all time is entirely on the money. Rassie and Jacques have given the south african public a great few years, but the success of the springbok selection policy will need to be judged in light of what comes next. The poor condition that the provincial system is currently in doesn’t bode well for the next few years of international rugby, and the insane 2026 schedule that the Boks have lined up could also really harm both provincial and international consistency.
16 Go to commentsJake White is a brilliant coach and a master in the press. This is another masterclass in media relations and PR but its also a very narrow view with arguments that dont always hold water. White wants his team to win, he wants the best players in SA and wants his team competitive. You however have to face up to the reality of a poor exchange rate and big clubs with big budgets. SA Rugby cant compete and unless it can find more money SA players will keep leaving regardless of Springbok eligibility and this happened in 2015 - 2017. Also rugby is not cricket. Cricket has 3 formats and T20 cricket is where the money is at. When it comes to club vs country the IPL is king but that wont happen because the international calendar does not clash with the club calendar in rugby. So the argument about rugby going down the same path as cricket is really a non-starter
16 Go to commentsNZ rugby seem not to have learnt anything from professional rugby. Super rugby was dying and SA left before they died with the competition. SA rugby did a u turn on their approach to international players playing overseas and such players are now selected for Bok teams. As much as each country would love to retain their players playing in local competitions, this is the way the world is evolving my friends. Move with it or stay 20 years behind the times. One more thing. NZ rugby hierarchy think they are the big cheese. Take a more humble approach guys. You do not seem to have your players best interests at heart.
3 Go to commentsBeaches? In Cardiff? Where?
1 Go to commentsHe is right , the Crusaders will be a threat. Scott Barrett, ( particularly), Fergus Burke , Codie Taylor, ( from sabbatical) etc due back soon for the Crusaders. There are others like Zach Gallagher too. People can right the Crusaders off, Top 8 , here we come !!
1 Go to commentsWe will always struggle for money to match the other sides but the least the WRU can do is invest properly in Welsh rugby. Too much has been squandered on vanity projects like the hotel and roof walk amongst others which will never see a massive return. Hanging the 4 pro sides out to dry over the last decade is now coming back to bite the WRU financially as well as on the pitch. You reap what you sow.
1 Go to commentsWhat do you get if you cross a doctor with a fish? A plastic sturgeon
14 Go to commentsWhat happened to feleti Kaitu’u? Hasnt played in a while right?
1 Go to commentsGregor I just can’t agree with you. You are trying to find something that just isn’t there. Jordie Barrett has signed until 2028. By the end of that he would have spent probably 11-12 years on Super Rugby and you say he can’t possibly have one season playing somewhere else. It is absurd. What about this scenario, the NZR play hard ball and he decides to leave and play overseas. How would that affect the competition. There seems to be an agenda by certain journalists to push certain agendas and don’t like it when it’s not to their liking. I fully support the NZR on this. Gregor needs to get a life.
3 Go to commentsHope he stays as believe he can do a great job.
1 Go to commentsMake what step up? Manie has a World Cup winner’s medal around his neck and changed the way the Springboks can play. He doesn’t have anything to prove to anyone. The win record of the Boks with him in the team is tremendous. Sacha can be wonderful and I hope he has a very succesful Bok career, but comparing him to Manie in terms of the next Bok flyhalf is very strange. Manie is the incumbent (not the next) and doing pretty incredibly.
4 Go to comments00 😍 U
1 Go to commentsSabbaticals have helped keep NZ’s very best talent in the country on long term deals - this fact has been left out of this article. Much like the articles calling to allow overseas players to be selected, yet can only name one player currently not signed to NZR who would be selected for the ABs. And in the entire history of NZ players leaving to play overseas, literally only 4 or 5 have left in their prime as current ABs. (Piatau, Evans, Hayman, Mo’unga,?) Yes Carter got an injury while playing in France 16 years ago, but he also got a tournament ending injury at the 2011 World Cup while taking mid-week practice kicks at goal. Maybe Jordie gets a season-ending injury while playing in Ireland, maybe he gets one next week against the Brumbies. NZR have many shortcomings, but keeping the very best players in the country and/or available for ABs selection is not one of them. Likewise for workload management - players missing 2 games out of 14 is hardly a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Again let’s use some facts - did it stop the Crusaders winning SR so many times consecutively when during any given week they would be missing 2 of their best players? The whole idea of the sabbatical is to reward your best players who are willing to sign very long term deals with some time to do whatever they want. They are not handed out willy-nilly, and at nowhere near the levels that would somehow devalue Super Rugby. In this particular example JB is locked in with NZR for what will probably (hopefully) be the best years of his career, hard to imagine him not sticking around for a couple more after for a Lions tour and one more world cup. He has the potential to become the most capped AB of all time. A much better outcome than him leaving NZ for a minimum of 3 years at the age of 27, unlikely to ever play for the ABs again, which would be the likely alternative.
3 Go to commentsJake White talks more sense than anything I've read in the last 5 years. Hope someone's listening.
16 Go to commentsThe Springboks tried going down the road of only picking home-based players and it was an unmitigated disaster in 2016 and 2017. Picking overseas-based players has been one of the main reason the Boks have done so well since 2018, not only because of the quality Rassie could call on, but because of the knowledge and experience those players brought into camp from England, France and Japan. With some of the big names playing abroad it also gave younger players in SA the chance to break through at franchise level. Would we have seen the emergence of a Ruan Nortje if RG and Lood were still at the Bulls? Not so sure. I understand why Jake would want to block players leaving since his job depends on good results but it’s an approach that would take Bok rugby back to the bad old days and no South African wants to see that.
16 Go to commentsExeter were thumped by 38 points. And they only had to hop on a train.
39 Go to commentsI am De Groot.
1 Go to comments