Eddie: Stop this Bastareaud
HOW ENGLAND COACH PLANS TO BEAT FRANCE
EDDIE JONES has the Toulon Tank in his sights as England attempt to get their Six Nations title bid back on track on Saturday against France. After last weekend’s Edinburgh embarrassment, the Aussie singled out French centre Mathieu Bastareaud as the dangerman, ahead of the clash in Paris. Bastareaud – also known as Baby Rhino, and no one’s idea of a silky runner – tips the scales at more than 20st and demolished Italy in the last round. And Jones (right) says he reminds him of a former team-mate at Randwick in Australia in the 1980s – Wallaby centre Lloyd Walker – who was another human bowling ball, and waddled around the pitch before smashing opponents. Jones said: “The only bloke I’ve ever seen like him is a piayer I played with, Lloyd Walker, who played eight Tests for the Wallabies. “He used to waddle around the field too, but had an extraordinary influence – and that is what Bastareaud has got. He’d be one of the best defensive backs in the world at the breakdown and he also has incredible offloading skills.
“France are a big, physical team and I don’t think they will play any different to the way they have been playing – trying to punch the ball up with their big forwards, create an offload, and then try to play their more traditional French game.
“Bastareaud gives them a different dimension at 12 or 13, but he’s able to work his way through the tackle and offload.”
The controversial midfielder missed the first game of the Six Nations against Ireland because he was banned for an on-pitch homophobic slur aimed at Benetton flanker Sebastian Negri in a Euro club match.
Basta was not picked for the defeat against Scotland, but got back in the mix when France boss Jacques Brunel suspended a group of players for going too far on a night out in Edinburgh post-match.
Then came his one-man demolition job of Italy in the last round when France won in a canter at 34-17.
Bath centre Jonathan Joseph – six stone lighter than Bastareaud – is set to be in the Toulon Tank’s firing line, but insists he can handle the man mountain. Joseph said: “You don’t come up against guys like him too often. You are probably going to need some help if you have one of the smaller guys attempting to tackle him. “It is not a case of size, it is more a case of making sure you are in the right body position and your tackle selection is the right one. You don’t want to get caught in a bad position when you are off-balance and he can bump you.”
Jones mixed it up last week by taking some of his squad to Oxford, where they were based in the hotel made famous by the Inspector Morse TV series.
He sent others, such as Joe Launchbury and Dan Cole, back to train with their clubs and another group to England’s normal base in Bagshot.
It would take Morse to crack the code of Jones selection for the French game, which the coach will announce on Thursday.
But flanker Sam Underhill and midfielder Ben Te’o could be in line for promotion from the bench. While Chris Robshaw is set to move to No.6 to accommodate Underhill.
The squad finished the current camp last Thursday and headed to a training session yesterday at Twickenham before pitching up again in Bagshot today.