>> Guscott: Play Brown at full-back in Dublin
“Occasional failures have been pinpointed and allowed to overshadow the positives Brown brings”
MIKE Brown is an offthe-shelf, ready made full-back who can slot in immediately, especially if it is Ireland’s Conor Murray putting the ball up near to the touchline, or Johnny Sexton testing England by raining upand-unders down on them.
A recall at full-back for Brown for the game in Dublin because of his ability under the high ball would mean either dropping Elliot Daly, the man in possession at 15 during the autumn, or playing him on the wing, or at outsidecentre.
Daly played well at times in attack from full-back in November, but his performances in defence – where he did not command the airways – would make it a risk playing him there against kickers of the quality of Sexton and Murray. That is why Brown is more than likely to be required.
Although wings Chris Ashton and Jack Nowell can both cover at 15 they do not play there regularly, so Jones does not have that many options given that Anthony Watson is not expected to be fit until the late stages of the tournament.
The other factor is that if the England coach is sure that he wants Daly at full-back during the World Cup, then he will stick with him.
However, the last thing you want against Ireland is to be thinking every time the ball is stuck in the air, “Elliott, I hope you catch it”. You don’t want that doubt in your mind by putting a player at full-back who is not a specialist, and does not play there for his club.
Some of Daly’s positional play, especially in taking command at full-back of a pendulum back three defensive system, was exposed a bit in the autumn – and Ireland are too smart a side not to take advantage if they see a weakness.
It is the full-back’s responsibility to command the backfield due to the amount of tactical kicking that goes on. There are as many as 20 to 30 kicks during the course of a game from each side, with the majority either box-kicks or garryowens.
Ireland will kick from anywhere with a couple of masters at half-back like Sexton and Murray, and Daly did not play well enough under the high ball to banish any questions.
England are keen to get off to a winning start against Ireland, but it will be very difficult because they are away, and playing the best team in the world – and in those circumstances you need to be as failsafe as possible at full-back.
Brown offers that reassurance, but it is a tough call on Daly, especially as the quality of the try he scored against Australia at the end of November makes you ask whether you can afford to leave him out?
I cannot see an argument against putting Brown at full-back against Ireland, Joe Cokanasiga – if fit – and Jonny May on the wings, and moving Daly to 13, the position he knows best. That would mean dropping Henry Slade, who has done nothing wrong at outside-centre, but has not been an attacking revelation.
Daly can be such a lethal runner that I would not hesitate to put him in the England midfield. He is a big threat with his pace, and you wonder why it has not happened before.
Against Ireland it is about finding the right balance in the back three, and at the moment it is hard to look past a back three of Brown, Cokanasiga and May to handle whatever the Irish throw at them.
May’s performances have made him pretty well undroppable, but one area where his game can improve is catching the high ball in defence and attack.
May has plenty of spring as a sprinter, but he needs to become like Israel Folau, putting fear in the mind of anyone kicking in his direction because his counter-attacking flair spells danger. He has to make opponents think, ‘why would you kick the ball to him’?
You only have to recall Cokanasiga’s counter-attacking off kicks in November’s win over the Wallabies to know he is comfortable in the air. I would back him under the high ball to cope under pressure, even from someone of similar size like Jacob Stockdale.
If Cokanasiga has recovered fully from injury it makes sense to give him the exposure of playing against Ireland at the Aviva Stadium. Cokanasiga is one of those big men who can do so much because he is also athletic, dynamic, powerful, and has great balance. He is a lethal weapon if utilised properly.
Which brings us back to Brown. He is one of Eddie’s core men, part of the group including Dylan Hartley and Chris Robshaw that won the 2016 Grand Slam. He has been in and out of the starting line-up over the last year, but responded to being put on the wing in last summer’s tour of South Africa by returning as one of England’s best players.
Is Brown likely to play at full-back in the World Cup? Maybe not, but you could not count it out. If Jones picks him against Ireland it tells us that he is prepared to select on a horses for courses basis.
Brown’s ability in the air brings stability to the back three, where the link is more defensive than attacking. It’s about reading were kicks go, covering each other, and thinking how you can support each other best.
It is also worth remembering that not so long ago Brown was rated as a pretty good counter-attacking runner – as he reminded us again in South Africa. There have just been a few moments when, with the chance of putting colleagues in to space, it hasn’t quite happened for him.
The nature of modern media analysis is that those occasional failures have been pinpointed, and perhaps have been allowed to overshadow the positives Brown brings.