Odogwu and Randall join England Grand Slam bid
WE have heard the Eddie Jones mantras about wanting England to be the greatest team in the world, as well as about putting a smile on the faces of rugby fans during the pandemic, and beyond.
They are laudable ambitions – but what the England head coach appears to have overlooked is that what most Red Rose fans would settle for first is a Six Nations Grand Slam, in which they show the hard-edged consistency required to win all their matches.
That is the yardstick by which great sides in the northern hemisphere are judged, and so far Jones’ England teams have hit that peak once in the five years he has been in charge.
Given the traditional lack of success by international teams from each of the Home Unions on tours of Australia, the former Wallaby and Japan coach could have been excused for thinking that Six Nations Grand Slams might be a bit of a doddle after winning one at the first time of asking in 2016.
However, with England sustaining losses in every annual tournament since then, Jones has had good reason to be more circumspect. This time last year he gave recognition to the special alchemy of the tournament, and the difficulty of achieving a clean sweep.
Jones said it was the most keenly contested international tournament of all – including the World Cup: “It’s called the greatest rugby tournament in the world, and I think it is. The competition is much harder contested than the World Cup. It’s become a lot more physical, and it only going to get more so.”
He added: “You don’t want this type of game every week, but southern hemisphere coaches certainly admire the Six Nations. There’s something about the Six Nations. Because of the history of the relationships between the nations, it makes it more outstanding.”
His parting shot on the subject of last year’s Calcutta Cup match was no less relevant to England’s opening fixture of the 2021 tournament against Scotland in two weeks’ time. “Someone was giving me a history lesson on Scotland, and a number of different things that have happened in the rivalry with England. So, there’s a lot of meaning to a lot of people for a game like this.”
There is also a lot of meaning in it for Jones, because, while his win percentage as an England coach is very impressive, England have not won any of the biggest prizes apart from the 2016 Grand Slam. By their own yardstick of success, they have reverted to being the ‘Nearly Men’ they were before Jones took over from Stuart Lancaster.
Despite winning two further Six Nations titles in 2020, and before that 2017, they have been unable to scale the highest peaks. They were brought down by Ireland with the summit of a second successive Slam in sight in Dublin four years ago, and then hit the buffers in the opening round a year ago in Paris to become the first victims of the French rugby renaissance under Fabien Galthie.
In 2018 England tanked, finishing the tournament in fifth place, and then went on to lose their summer tour series in South Africa 2-1. Jones’ outfit tripped-up again in the 2019 edition, failing to rise to the occasion in Cardiff – which ceded the chance of a Grand Slam to Wales – and were then forced into scrambling a last-gasp 3838 draw against a Scotland side that came off the ropes at Twickenham and within inches of a knockout blow.
That was the precursor to England’s reputation and confidence suffering a hammer blow when they were completely outplayed by the Springboks in the 2019 World
Cup final.
Their inability to seize the day in Yokohama brought all those other defeats on winner-take-all occasions under Jones into sharp perspective. It speaks of a team which has buckled under big-match pressure on too many occasions for it to be glossed over, and although they bounced back in 2020 to win all their games after the setback against the French, their points difference title grab was never emphatic.
The sense that there is a fault-line in the mental rigour of this England side was highlighted again when they came within an Owen Farrell extra-time penalty of being ambushed by a
France B team in the
Autumn Nations Cup final at Twickenham two months ago.
It is why England are recognised worldwide as a good side, but are also seen as having some distance to cover if they are to become the great side they aspire to be.
This will not have been lost on Scotland.
The narrow margin of England’s 13-6 victory in the storm-hit fixture at Murrayfield last campaign, as well as the draw Jones’ side were fortunate to salvage after their second-half collapse on home turf two years ago, will give Gregor Townsend’s side the belief that this could be their time. Scotland’s winless streak at Twickenham stretches back 37 years to when Margaret Thatcher – the Prime Minister that many north of the border love to hate – won a landslide second general election. Scotland are no strangers to landslide defeats at Twickenham, but given current form and the tight scorelines in their last two Six Nations meetings, as well as the steady gains made
underownsend, there are few indithat cations England will romp home. The cots will take encouragement from two factors in particular. The first is wickenham being rendered far mor e neutral than normal due to the absnce of an 80,000 crowd, and the second is that they have beaten Frances best team in the last year, scuppeing their Grand Slam hopes in Edin burgh, whereas England have
Scotland are still inconsistent, as shown by their Autumn victory over Wales i n Llanelli and defeat by Iret they have done enough to trate that their pack is comn most departments, and that ey light the blue touch paper k they are hard to hold. ast time the England scrum rupted, courtesy of the oks, it all ended in tears, tland will be looking for the same with Engtarting tighthead Kyle r banned from playing. es the dynamic Scots ad Rory Sutherland the to make a case for a all-up that cannot be
, so Will Stuart and Williams can expect to be duty. eturn of Finn Russell to ions action after last s ‘sabbatical’ will also es pause for
though, because two years ago it was the Scottish flyhalf ’s playmaking wizardry which tied England in knots. On that occasion it was Owen Farrell who lost his way at fly-half, and George Ford who acted as the cavalry, coming off the bench to score and convert the late try which levelled it.
However, the England coach is likely to start them both against the Scots. The Ford-Farrell 10-12 combination was an intrinsic part of the match 23 that beat the French reserves 22-19 to win the Autumn Nations Cup, and it is a safe bet that Jones will go with his tried and tested against Townsend’s crew. However, Jones said that his injection of new backline blood, with Wasps centre/wing Paolo Odogwu and Bristol scrum-half Harry Randall named in his 28-man squad, is not window-dressing.
He believes that both these uncapped 23-year-olds have something that is “slightly different” to offer. Jones said the same of Russell, describing the Scot as having, “the best short attacking kicking
game in the world”, and posing “a definite threat”.
This comparison of danger men is likely to remain conjecture, because unless there is a run of training injuries the England head coach is unlikely to give either Odogwu or Randall a start against Scotland.
The proviso is that Odogwu has supplanted Jonathan Joseph, and his versatility in being able to play centre or wing, could see the stocky powerhouse win his first cap off the bench.
Joseph drops down to the 12-man shadow squad of players staying at their clubs but observing England Covid protocols, as do fellow backs Joe Marchant and George Furbank.
In the pack Mako Vunipola’s Achilles injury sees a promotion for Beno Obano, left, at loosehead, and there is also a recall for Newcastle’s Mark Wilson in the back row at the expense of Wasps tyro Jack Willis, who is among the reserves.
This could bring Wilson face to face with his back row clubmate Gary Graham, who has been recalled to a Scottish pack which has had to be recast at hooker. Glasgow’s George Turner is tipped to start, with captain Stuart MacInally and Fraser Brown both injured.
The surprise absentee is Sam Skinner, with the brawny Exeter lock/blindside left out of the squad despite the ballast he has brought to the back five of the Scottish pack.
In the backline others to miss the cut are Exeter scrum-half Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, with Scott Steele (Harlequins) preferred as understudy to Ali Price, and Glasgow centre Sam Johnson, who makes way for Cameron Redpath, the highly rated Bath and former England U20 centre who has opted for Scotland.
Townsend will want to blood Redpath as soon as he can, but with the more experienced Duncan Taylor (Saracens) and Chris Harris (Gloucester) in place as midfield options, a short cameo against England is a better bet than a long run.
Whether Redpath has chosen the right path is debatable given that Scotland have had just five wins over England in the last 30 encounters. However, what is not debatable as Eddie Jones goes into his sixth Six Nations campaign, is that the words Grand and Slam did not get a mention.