Players’ vote of confidence for Robshaw
CHRIS ROBSHAW was reinstated as England’s captain for the autumn internationals yesterday on the back of a resounding vote of confidence by his team- mates.
Coach Stuart Lancaster privately canvassed opinion among the squad’s leaders over whether Robshaw was the man to take England forward after his omission from the Lions squad. But, after winning their unanimous backing, he was handed the role again.
The Harlequins captain relinquished the post to Tom Wood when he was rested for the summer tour to Argentina, but he will lead England for the 17th time in Lancaster’s 20 Tests as coach when they face Australia at Twickenham on Saturday week.
“I do think that the captain has to have a presence and respect in the group from everyone who is there and Chris has that undoubtedly,” said Lancaster. “I met Tom Wood and talked it through with him. I met Owen Farrell, Toby Flood and Dylan Hartley and they all respect him as a player and as a captain.
“Eighty per cent of the captaincy selection process revolves around whether the guy is guaranteed his place in the team. While others have pushed him, I still feel he is the right person.
“When you are captaining England there is a bigger role to play other than just on- field. Chris’s experience of doing it over the last 12 months will help him become better again. He will be better this time round.
“Tom Wood has only captained twice and it is a big ask for someone to make all those on- field decisions, get them right and get a feel for the game. It is a different skill.
“I’ve not made any assurances beyond the QBE Tests and my mindset is to make sure that some other players have experience of captaining the team but, at the moment, there is no need to do that.”
Robshaw last led England out against Wales in March when a painful defeat cost them the Six Nations. It has been a long wait to get that out of his system but he believes the experience will ultimately make him and England stronger on the road to a home World Cup in two years’ time.
“You learn from your experiences – the good, bad or the ugly. You have to make the most of them all,” he said.
“I’m extremely honoured to continue in the role. We’re a team who want to win and be in the best possible position for 2015, whether it’s myself leading the team or one of the other guys.” Despite his club’s indifferent start to the season, England have been happy with Robshaw’s individual contribution for Quins.
“The Lions snub obviously hurt him but he has had disappointments in the past and he has always come back from them,” said Lancaster. “We gave him some areas to develop – his footspeed along the floor and his ability to change his pace. He’s maintained his physicality but he is a little bit more d y n a m i c . ” Owen Farrell, who was involved in an on- field slanging match with Robshaw at Twickenham a year ago when the captain instructed him to kick a late penalty against South Africa, has no doubts this is the right call.
“The main thing is Chris is a brilliant captain,” said Farrell. “He’s someone who you want to be led by, someone you want to follow. He’s the hardest- working player in the team, someone who definitely leads by example.”
England wind up their Leeds training camp today and will be crossing their fingers that their front row injury situation improves over the weekend. Alex Corbisiero is almost certainly out of the Australia Test with knee damage, Hartley is wearing a protective boot after an ankle injury, while Davey Wilson has been unable to train this week because of a calf problem.
Henry Trinder has also been a bystander because of a hamstring issue, which means Joel Tomkins is set to make his England debut at outside centre.
have installed Daniel Hourcade as caretaker coach ahead of the England game at Twickenham on November 9.
Hourcade steps up from the second- string Jaguars after the resignation of Santiago Phelan following 10 successive defeats.