Will this be a taste of the future without Hartley and Brown?
With Farrell at the helm, this new-look England team could be shaping up for the World Cup
England headed to Paris last night with a hint of revolution in the air, a sense that the guard is changing as Eddie Jones looks to make his squad fit for World Cup purpose. Of course the immediacy of salvaging Six Nations title hopes is principally what occupies minds. To enter the soaring Stade de France arena with any other focus than Le Combat at hand is to invite a swift and salutary rebuke from the opposition. England had enough of that sort of experience in Edinburgh.
But there is simply no gainsaying the fact that England’s head coach has picked a team that for the first time does not include two of his mainstays, captain Dylan Hartley and full-back Mike Brown, the latter reduced to the ranks of the replacements, a singular event in its own right. Brown has been a shibboleth of Jones’ England, its touchstone, its defining mark: cussed, defiant, resilient, Millwalllike in that it didn’t matter if a vocal section of the rugby community thought it was time for someone else, Jones didn’t care. Brown was his man, as evidenced in his impassioned defence of the Harlequin only a month ago when he delivered a man-of-the-match performance against Wales to spite pre-match criticism.
But change has come, perhaps induced by the Murrayfield jolt, perhaps as a dawning realisation that with Wasps’ Elliot Daly now fit, Jones can put together a back three of world-ranked pace in Jonny May and the newly installed No15 Anthony Watson. Jones stated that he wanted to have an attacking back-three option at his disposal as well as a (Browncentric) defensive one. We shall see. With the forecast filthy for Saturday night, Watson and his rear gunners are going to have to deal with an aerial bombardment from those leaden Parisian skies before they get a chance to show a clean pair of heels to Les Bleus further upfield. Watson will be expected to cover all bases. It is not a one-dimensional gig.
Matches refine and revise opinions, not always definitively, but significantly nonetheless. Brown was blunt against Scotland. England needed something else, all the more so against France when there are Championship permutations to address, notably that bonus points could well come into the equation depending on the Ireland-scotland outcome earlier that afternoon in Dublin. If Watson thrives, and the wings run free, then the selection scale for future reference will tilt in their favour.
Hartley’s absence is injuryenforced, a tight calf ruling out the Northampton hooker who will, nonetheless, travel with the squad, aiding his long-standing Pennyhill Park room-mate, Owen Farrell, as he leads his country for the first time. Farrell might only be a stopgap appointment, a filler, a fiery, competitive, no-nonsense hewn-from-the-same-stone sort of captain as Hartley, until the hooker regains fitness which might be as early as next week. And yet, just as Brown’s status is under review, so too might be that of Hartley.
Jamie George is no Young Turk getting his head for the first time, a
Jamie George is a starting Lions hooker with pedigree aplenty. This is his chance
stand-in that may or may not take his chance to impress. The Saracen is a starting Lions hooker. He has pedigree aplenty. He has European titles notched on his belt. George is 27 years old and has 23 caps to his name. He has earned his indentures at the coal-face. If George goes well and England win, then the wheel turns upward. This is George’s chance.
There was little point in changing elsewhere once Bath openside, Sam Underhill, was ruled out. Exeter flying back-rower, Sam Simmonds, is raw and it is only right that Chris Robshaw continues. Paris is not for the faint-hearted. That is why Watson has been chosen. And Daly. And George. Farrell, too, as captain. They all started the third Test against New Zealand in Auckland. They contributed to that historic moment. And now they have the opportunity to add to the narrative of this evolving England team.