ENGLAND'S MIDFIELD MAYHEM
Borthwick all at sea with his centre selections unlike Ireland’s tried and trusted pairings
IEngland do not know what they are at in the centre
N rugby, the midfield always works best as a partnership. There are two centres and they need to work in unison or the whole midfield operation falls apart.
There is a tried and trusted formula for centre combinations that dates back deep into the amateur era and, like all good formulas, it is simple in concept.
There are two centres – the inside centre, or No12, and the outside centre, No13 – and the established formula is that your No12 is the battering ram who creates the space for your No13 to exploit.
On this basis, inside centres tend to be burly and direct (think Bundee Aki) while the outside guy is more lithe and evasive (Garry Ringrose).
When you think of the great centre partnerships — Franck Mesnel and Philippe Sella, Scott Gibbs and Jeremy Guscott; Rob Henderson and Brian O’Driscoll; Jamie Roberts and Brian O’Driscoll; Ma’a Nonu and Conrad Smith — they all adhere to this yin and yang formula.
Over the years, Ireland have generally had a good handle on their midfield balance. The likes of David Irwin, Jonny Bell, Kevin Maggs and Henderson brought physicality to the No12 jersey while Brendan Mullin and O’Driscoll provided the grace outside.
In the current Ireland set-up, Aki and Ulster’s Stuart McCloskey are ideal fits at inside centre, with Ringrose and Robbie Henshaw perfectly equipped for the outside channel (although Henshaw has the size to be a quality crash-balling 12 also).
It was instructive that when injuries saw Ireland abandon the 12-13 formula last year and go 1212 by selecting McCloskey and Aki in midfield together against Italy, it flopped badly.
But that was a one-off, Ireland know what they are about when it comes to their midfield and consistency of selection has been at the heart of it. Between 2004 and 2014, O’Driscoll and Gordon D’Arcy had a lock on the centre spots — the latter not built like the standard issue barrelling 12 but extremely effective in the role. And, in the last 10 years, since that storied pair retired, the centre spots have been dominated by Ringrose, Aki, Henshaw and McCloskey.
Other talents like Luke Marshall, Jared Payne and James Hume have had cameos but both Joe Schmidt, and Andy Farrell after him, have constantly returned to their Fantastic Four and Ireland has been well rewarded on the back of it. Consistency breeds success. And then you have England. Stuart Borthwick’s side have many issues to address as they seek to plot a way forward in the international game but perhaps the most pressing is their Keystone Cops midfield operation.
The situation is so bad that probably England’s most high profile rugby pundit — former out-half Stuart Barnes — last week suggested in print that Borthwick should try No8 Ben Earl at inside centre.
This caused such a furore that Barnes had to pen a follow-up column where he assured readers he had ‘not been on the wine’.
The truth is England do not know what they are at in the centre, but this is not a new problem, they have been all at sea with their midfield thinking for many years.
Since 2010 — while Ireland have trusted in their Fantastic Four, and O’Driscoll and D’arcy before them — England have trialled a staggering 28 different centres as starters (see panel).
The majority were not around long enough to leave any sort of impression — Jordan TurnerHall, Kyle Eastmond, Joel Tomkins, Alex Lozowski are just a small sample of the centres who were hailed, trialled and discarded as England strived in vain to find the right midfield balance.
They have had good partnerships in the past. Will Carling and Jeremy Guscott were superb together in the late 1980s and early 1990s, as were the World Cup-winning pair of Mike Tindall and Will Greenwood in the early 2000s and, when Eddie Jones brought England to the World Cup final in 2019, Owen Farrell and Manu Tuilagi were also extremely potent.
But, even when England have found a partnership that works, they do their best to screw it up. Carling was perfectly suited to the inside centre role, as per formula, yet England repeatedly played him at 13 with Guscott inside him. It was the same with Tindall and Greenwood — Tindall, the route-one enforcer was frequently played at outside centre while the rangy Greenwood played at 12.
Meanwhile, Farrell and Tuilagi could never truly bed in as a world-class partnership due to the constant speculation over whether Farrell was better employed at out-half, while Tuilagi’s bulk always seemed better suited to the inside role.
This season, with Farrell on sabbatical, it has been Fraser Dingwall and Henry Slade in
midfield for the first two uncertain wins over Italy and Wales before Ollie Lawrence came in for Dingwall for the loss to Scotland in Murrayfield.
None have impressed — neither individually nor as a partnership — and there is a cloud hanging over England’s midfield as Borthwick analyses his options ahead of Ireland’s visit this weekend.
We know Ireland’s choices: Aki and Henshaw, Aki and Ringrose or Henshaw and Ringrose, with McCloskey ready to fill in as required. Tried, tested, trusted. England are scrambling by comparison — hence we are hearing suggestions like throwing Earl into an unfamiliar position and expecting him to thrive despite painful lessons of the past, notably the disastrous Sam Burgess experience in 2015.
Their best option could be Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, the youngster who has provided the only bit of spark we have seen from England when used off the bench in Edinburgh and a player who has muscle, pace to burn and experience of centre as well as wing.
Whatever way Borthwick goes, it should not concern Ireland too much — whoever fills the white
No12 and No13 jerseys on Saturday will be way behind their opponents in terms of proven partnership experience. The midfield is the conduit to attacking success out wide and with England’s midfield in mayhem and Borthwick under pressure after the loss in Scotland, it points towards a reversion to the forward-driven, mind-numbing kicking tactics that brought success last year. Whatever England throw at the visitors, Ireland look to have the tools to handle it — not least a masterful midfield.