EDWARDS BOUND FOR BLEUS
Gustard: Brown & Robshaw MUST go to the World Cup
vkick-off 7.45pm FORMER England coach Paul Gustard says taking Mike Brown and Chris Robshaw to the World Cup is a no-brainer.
The Red Rose pair have not featured this season despite one being the nation’s most capped full-back and the other England’s long-time captain.
At the Stoop tonight each will press his case for inclusion in Eddie Jones’ squad when Harlequins play relegationthreatened Leicester. Gustard, Jones’ right-hand man until quitting as defence coach last summer to take charge of Quins, is in no doubt they should be in Japan.
“If you have a 70-odd cap full-back and a 60-odd cap flanker who are playing at the level they are, with that amount of experience, there is no debate,” he said.
“They are guys you want to compete in a cauldron.
P W D L F A Exeter 20 16 0 4 583 379 Saracens 20 15 0 5 577 402 Gloucester 20 12 1 7 518 450 N’hampton 20 10 0 10 531 471 Harlequins 20 9 0 11 496 482 Sale 20 10 1 9 396 443 Wasps 20 9 0 11 439 498 Bath 20 8 2 10 420 432 Bristol 20 8 0 12 464 548 Worcester 20 8 0 12 450 490 Leicester 20 7 0 13 428 577 Newcastle 20 6 0 14 364 494 SHAUN EDWARDS is set to commit his future to France after the World Cup.
The Englishman (right) announced yesterday that he would be leaving the Wales set-up in November after all.
It is claimed in France he has agreed a four-year deal as defence coach of Les Bleus.
Edwards is good friends with France’s newly-appointed team manager Raphael Ibanez, whom he coached at Wasps, and the 52-year-old They were arguably the best players on the field when we played Clermont Auvergne, who had Test-standard players.
“They’re desperate to be on the plane to Japan. They’re doing extras, everything it takes. I spoke to Mike Brown on Monday and he was asking, ‘What else can I do? I want to help lead the team’.
“Chris has been exceptional in terms of how he has led the players. We had a meeting after we gave a lot of points away against Northampton through penalties.
“He asked for it and he said to the boys, ‘Until we get below this level of penalties, we will be doing pick-ups after training’. Nobody complained. It was all on him.”
Quins making the play-offs for the first time in five years would do their England ambitions no harm and, after five straight league defeats, Brown (above, right with Robshaw) said: “Leicester are fighting for their lives. A year ago it was us down there. We can’t give them a ray of hope.” BPts 17 81 12 72 11 61 11 51 15 51 6 48 11 47 10 46 13 45 9 41 11 39 6 30 has already declined a return to former clubs Wasps and rugby league’s Wigan. It was thought he would remain with Wales post tournament but after coach Warren Gatland encouraged him to make a decision, Edwards has chosen a new path.
He said: ”After more than 10 years with Wales this has been an incredibly difficult decision but I won’t be renewing my contract. “I hope and believe the best days are yet to come and I am fully focused on seeing what we can achieve in Japan.”