Can Jones find players to match the superpowers?
The fixture between South Africa and New Zealand featured a speed of play that England must answer if they are to compete with these nations
There must have been many thoughts swirling round the mind of the England coach, Eddie Jones, as he sat amid equally turbulent weather on Saturday evening at the Stoop. Assuming that he will have had the chance to watch the game between South Africa and New Zealand, you might guess at a few of the things that were running through his head. How to compete against two of the best teams on the planet – physical, talented and brave and with a lot of rugby common sense as well?
Any number of All Blacks are yardsticks against which the best can be judged, but the sheer pace at which both these teams play is enough to cause panic attacks. New Zealand snatched a win, though not at their imperious best, and the reason is summed up in four words – Brodie Retallick is missing.
Where, for example, will Jones find the equal of Faf de Klerk? A livewire scrum-half with an uncanny ability to exploit the narrow side and a running threat that perpetually keeps opposition back rows honest. He is the fulcrum which is the basis of all that the Springboks do well.
Ben Youngs, in Leicester’s game against Northampton at Twickenham earlier, and Harlequins’ Danny Care were both forced, in the main, to reduce their games to tactical kicking. Care scored an instinctive interception try but neither he nor Youngs mounted the running threat of either De Klerk or Aaron Smith.
Can Jones find a match for Malcolm Marx, who does the basics well but also carries the ball with menace? The selection at hooker is complicated by Jones’s loyalty to Dylan Hartley as his captain.
Hartley’s form has been good without being spectacular. It is not such that he can claim an automatic berth. Jamie George’s candidacy is strengthened by a number of good games in a Saracens side who are playing well. On Saturday, it was difficult to assess his work in the tight because the scrums, in which he faced both Joe Marler and Kyle Sinckler, were reduced to a farce by fussy officiating and a less than ideal surface.
Jones will not have found answers to these questions and that was down to a number of things. Chief amid these was the weather, which was so poor that he was going to see only a fraction of the skills he would have hoped for. In the end Quins versus Saracens was not too bad a game, unlike the one that took place across the road between the Saints and the Tigers.