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LONG READ 'Lightweight' Premiership not preparing England players for Test rugby

'Lightweight' Premiership not preparing England players for Test rugby
3 weeks ago

Steve Borthwick is right. England’s players are not fit enough for international rugby, physically or mentally.

Speaking after South Africa had extended England’s losing streak to five on the trot, Borthwick told journalists: “At the start of this series, you looked at the condition of the players and it wasn’t quite where it needed to be for Test-match rugby, for teams stepping straight into Test-match rugby.”

The England head coach said that against New Zealand, Australia and the Springboks, his boys had come up against “very good teams that have come off the back of the Rugby Championship, so they are Test-match hardened”.

Cheslin Kolbe
The footwork and pace of Springboks wing Cheslin Kolbe twice exposed England in Saturday’s clash (Photo David Rogers/Getty Images)

At the same time as Borthwick was talking to reporters in the bowels of Twickenham, France and the All Blacks were kicking off in Paris in a match that turned out to be a thriller.

France won 30-29 after overturning a 17-10 half-time deficit, in the process overturning Borthwick’s “Test-match hardened” theory. Given that French coach Fabien Galthie took a second-string squad to Argentina for their summer tour, this was the first outing for the regulars since the Six Nations. So how were France able to play with a physicality and an intensity that has been beyond England this month?

Fitness is indeed the answer: not so much of the players, but the league in which they play. Let’s be blunt: the Gallagher Premiership is a lightweight competition, and it is not preparing its players for Test-match rugby.

I wrote recently of the physicality of the Top 14, and the injuries that accrue over the season. The upside is an intensity that replicates the rigours of Test-match rugby. A few rounds of the Top 14 and a player is battle-hardened for the international fray.

The Premiership is lightweight… in physicality, atmosphere and intensity. It is no longer capable of providing the bridge between club rugby and Test rugby

In an interview last season, Racing 92’s English winger Henry Arundell compared and contrasted the Premiership and the Top 14: “Every weekend, you play against the world’s greatest players in the Top 14,” he said. “Wherever you go, the stadiums are full, the atmosphere is crazy… I’ve played a few international matches and in my opinion, the Top 14 is the championship that comes closest to that level.”

Kyle Sinckler said something similar after a few matches at Toulon this season, and Zach Mercer – who played the best rugby of his career during his two seasons with Montpellier – spoke of the physical challenge as “always huge in the Top 14”.

Even the ProD2 can match the Premiership for physicality, according to Courtney Lawes, who swapped Northampton for Brive in the summer. “From a physical point of view there’s not a lot of difference between the two championships,” he said recently.

Ollie Sleightholme
Lawes (centre, top) helped Saints beat Bath in last season’s Premiership final before moving to France (Photo David Rogers/Getty Images)

The Premiership is lightweight by contrast, in physicality, atmosphere and intensity. It is no longer capable of providing the bridge between club rugby and Test-match rugby.

In his column for the Mail on Sunday, Clive Woodward was characteristically forthright in dissecting England’s dismal autumn. “Once again, England didn’t make the right calls under pressure,” wrote Woodward. “Once again, England were on the wrong side of the fine margins. It’s becoming a recurring theme. That’s five games in a row now… it was the team’s decision-making on the field that let the supporters down.”

Blame the Premiership. It has become a soft competition, turning out soft players who are incapable of withstanding the mental and physical pressure of international rugby.

Competitiveness kills complacency… Matches are tighter in the Top 14, and points harder to come by, because teams are more competitive.

The rot set in nearly four years ago when the RFU scrapped relegation and promotion, ring-fencing the Premiership and in the process rendering many matches meaningless. There are hardly any matches in the Top 14 when there isn’t something at stake; even in the Spring, teams are battling hard to finish in the top six and qualify for the play-offs, or fighting to avoid being in the bottom two. Competitiveness kills complacency.

Last season, Bath finished second in the Premiership, scoring 511 points and conceding 413; Stade Français finished second in the Top 14 and their tally was 539 for and 511 against. The difference was that Stade Français played eight games more in the regular season. Bristol Bears, who finished fifth, did so by scoring 591 points. La Rochelle accumulated 595 points in finishing fifth in the Top 14. In other words, matches are tighter in the Top 14, and points harder to come by, because teams are more competitive.

Between them last season, Newcastle and Gloucester won five of their 36 matches. In effect, there were really only eight clubs competing in the Premiership. Of the 10 clubs in the English top-flight, seven were recently declared balance-sheet insolvent.

It is a demoralised competition. No wonder there are now 47 Englishmen playing in either the Top 14 or the ProD2. More will surely follow given the financial uncertainty engulfing the Premiership.

Antoine Dupont
The return of Antoine Dupont, playing his first Test since RWC23, helped France to victory over New Zealand (Photo Xavier Laine/Getty Images)

France have now beaten New Zealand in their last three Tests, but Saturday night’s victory was the most satisfying for Fabien Galthié. “The team stuck together and the spirit they showed in difficult moments, in times of weakness, particularly in the first half, was very strong,” he reflected.

New Zealand dominated France in the first 40, but the French absorbed the pressure, making 208 tackles in the game overall. Their discipline was exemplary, as was their precision when they had possession. The All Blacks had the ball for 23 minutes, 10 minutes more than France. The visitors’ attacking efficiency was 1.3 points per minute of possession;  for France it was 2.3.

“What was also good was what happened at half-time, and the way we managed to sort out the problems with our attacking play and put things right with the way we played,” explained Galthié.

Sir Clive better brace himself for February’s Six Nations clash at Twickenham. On the evidence of Saturday, there’ll be more kids on the pitch as the men of France crush the boys of England.

France were everything on Saturday that England’s weren’t. A team that solved problems and handled pressure. It used to be the French with a reputation for being flaky in the final quarter; now it’s England.

Do the players care? Woodward raised his eyebrow in his column at the behaviour of some England players following Saturday’s defeat by South Africa. “I hate the fact that minutes after the full-time whistle and following yet another loss, the players are smiling, waving and playing with their children on the field,” he wrote.

Sir Clive better brace himself for February’s Six Nations clash at Twickenham. On the evidence of Saturday, there’ll be more kids on the pitch as the men of France crush the boys of England.

Comments

14 Comments
S
SteveD 19 days ago

Too many pampered, precious Posh Boys who think the sun shines out of their backsides?

T
TazT 19 days ago

Dont complain too much or start jumping to conclusions.


Here in NZ commentators have been blabbing that our bottom pathway competition the NPC (provincial teams only like Taranaki, Wellington etc)is not fit for purpose ie supplying players to Super rugby level then they started blabbing that our Super Rugby comp (combined provincial unions making up, Crusaders, Hurricanes, etc) wasn't good enough without the South African teams and for the style SA and the northern powers play at test level.

Here is what I reckon, Our comps are good enough for how WE want to play rugby not how Ireland, SA, England etc play. Our comps are high tempo, more rucks, mauls, running plays, kicks in play, returns, in a game than most YES alot of repetition but that builds attacking skillsets and mindsets. I don't want to see world teams all play the same they all have their own identity and style as do England (we were scared with all this kind of talk when they came here) World powerhouse for a reason, losses this year have been by the tiniest of margins and could have gone either way in alot of games. Built around forward power and blitz defence they have got a great attack Wingers are chosen for their Xfactor now not can they chase up and unders all day. Stick to your guns its not far off

J
JM 19 days ago

You start off talking about physicality and then quickly segue to intensity as if they're the same thing.

If you think the Premiership isn't physical then you're either a fool, or being disingenuous.

One of the issues the Premiership does have when it comes to intensity is that the bonus point structure makes the last 20 minutes of lots of games meaningless. Everyone's wrapped up their points, benches are cleared, the quality of the game deteriorates, and what could be tense conclusions end up just petering out.

C
Cantab 20 days ago

All teams will go through phases where they lose players through injury/retirement and need to rebuild. NZ is emerging from that phase, Ireland is going into it, SA has more depth than most, France ditto and England will come back as Australia is now doing. Argie on their day can upset anyone.

D
DM 21 days ago

I cannot agree with this. It's smoke and mirrors by Borthwick to mask the poor selection strategy for his bench and the poor perofrmance of those subs when brought on.


We are not losing these matches by miles because players are running out of puff. We are losing them by small margins because of a shockingl poor defensive system adn some careless errors.


And if we are running out of puff, it might also have something to do with our continuous blitzing at breakneck speed like headless chickens - withotu ever pausing for breath

B
BG 21 days ago

I don't buy in to this argument. They say the same about Super Rugby but the AB's while not at the top of their game are certainly up there and the Wallabies are on the rise. Not only that the URC which I would rate below both the premiership and Super Rugby is where most of the SA players play as well as Japan. In terms of money and crowds and tribalism the Top 14 is definitely on the top and because France have a big rugby playing population they probably have more depth but at the end of the day they can only field a squad of 23 on a game day.

I'm a NZer but I definitely think that England have the players but I do think that their conditioning lets them down. But that is an easy thing to sort. At the end of the day I would say that there is nothing between the top teams in France, England and Super Rugby. Leinster would be up there as well. The sooner they get a world club comp going the better in my mind.

J
JW 21 days ago

Well I don't buy into that talk about Super myself. Those teams haven't dropped their standards too much, if at all, over the years. People just misconstrue the Wallabies decline, and the terrible years in 2018/19 where they couldn't win a game against NZ teams, as it being a drop overall somehow. Illogically is how. Of course it could simply be that the NZ teams got better, as they also beat most of the SA'n teams (who immediately started winning in Europe).


The Top 14 doesn't just have a bigger playing population (actually less than England I thought) they have to distribute it over two divisions of teams. Stars often come out of Div2 unlike in England (to my knowledge). Agreed, Englands teams are getting very drilled and a lot of them have turned the corner on how they play rugby. Should only keep England close to the top (ofc that's not good enough for them lol).

S
SK 21 days ago

Well I dont think you can condemn the premiership as much as many people demonise the league these days. The Top 14 is the best league in the world and routinely produces the champions cup winner. They have loads of money, investment and fan engagement. They have the best players available and massive squads with huge amounts of substitutes applied. Last year Harlequins went to the Semis in the Champions Cup and ran the eventual winners close. Northampton were there too and gave Leinster a difficult time away from home. The Premiership routinely produces semi finalists in the best comp in the world. Its not as bad as people thing with Prem teams able to compete with the best in Europe. The Prem also contains some of the Worlds leading players.

M
MF 21 days ago

Where this argument falls down, is that many of the Boks ply their trade in Japan, hardly comparable to the English Prem in intensity let alone the Top 14. Yet, the Bok players return to the international fold, hardened and as we saw, ready to play. Its a mindset as much as a lighter weight competition.

f
fl 21 days ago

the URC isn't exactly heavyweight either. Sure, there are some good teams in that comp, but there's also Zebre and Dragons.

f
fl 21 days ago

Clive Woodward should shut up

t
tt 21 days ago

Well that's a well considered argument and so articulately put.

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