ENGLAND CALL UP HEAVY MOB
Hosts put the scalpel aside and pick up the hammer
TWICKENHAM will reverberate on Saturday to the thunderous soundtrack of heavyweight collisions. England have decided to opt for the route one approach. Size and power are the tools of choice again.
Partly by accident and partly by design, the subtle heart of the hosts’ attacking game has been ripped away. Jonathan Joseph has been removed from contention by injury, but George Ford — another electrifying Bath back — has been dropped. After deciding that they were too ‘lateral’ against Fiji, it appears sideways movement may be all but eliminated in the duel with Wales.
Warren Gatland’s visitors will come armed with plenty of physical clout in their back line, in the formidable shapes of two renowned Lions, Jamie Roberts and George North. Scott Williams is another strong and solid figure in midfield, alongside Roberts, and the pair will be met by an alliance of English muscle.
Sam Burgess comes crashing into England’s starting World Cup team as a monstrous force weighing in excess of 18 stone — once the sort of bulk reserved for front-five forwards. Next to him, defensive linchpin Brad Barritt is significantly lighter at 15st, but he has forged a reputation for his warrior spirit and bodyon-the-line commitment.
He will work in Joseph’s normal domain, but in a very different way. The Saracen will not bob and weave, step and dart and seek space, he will charge into contact and try to punch holes. Close by, Burgess will operate to a similar brief. England are not going to try to out-run or out-fox Wales, they will try to smash them into oblivion.
That sense is reinforced by the choice of Owen Farrell over Ford at No 10. When the decision is publicly confirmed by head coach Stuart Lancaster tomorrow, it will come as a jarring shock to a large proportion of the rugby public in this country. Ford is the precocious flyhalf who has been rightly lauded as a potential star of the tournament, but after a hit-and-miss collective effort against Fiji, he has been sacrificed.
As the players left England’s Surrey HQ last night for some precious time at home, Ford must have been struggling to come to terms with his fall from m grace. Just a few weeks ago, o, he was being praised for the way he pulled the strings in victory over Ireland, but suddenly he finds himself back among the supporting cast.
In that fixture, his crosss-kick for Anthony Watson’s try was an acclaimed feature off the English success over thehe Six Nations champions. In contrast, later in the game, Farrell was widely berated for failing to capitalise on a glorious scoring chance presented by a four-man overlap, when he threw a long, ambitious pass off target and Ireland scrambled to recover their position.
There is no escaping the enduring sense that Ford possesses a broader attacking repertoire than his great friend. He appears more comfortable in heavy traffic on the gainline, where he can showcase the range and shrewd timing of his distribution so effectively, as well as his own running game. Last month in Paris, he was off-key early on, but recovered sufficiently to be heralded by Lancaster for orchestrating a late rearguard action.
Well, Ford will have to settle for the role of finisher or game-chaser-in-chief, because he will not initially grasp the conductor’s baton at Twickenham on Saturday. The England coaches value Farrell highly as a Lion with the attributes of a so- called ‘ Test match animal’ — someone at home amid the maelstrom of a high-stakes encounter. It is hhis 24th birthday tomorrow aand his present will be the No 10 shirt that he relinquished during last year’s autumn series. Lancaster will look to Farrell Jnr for reassurance; to kick his goals under pressure, make his tackles with gusto anand stick to the game-plan. That game-plan is bound to be decidedly one- dimensional now England have opted to put away the scalpel and pick up the sledgehammer. First and foremost, the 10-12-13 choice suggests a pre-occupation with stopping the heavy Welsh runners on the gainline. Perhaps if Joseph was fit they would have trusted their artistry to prevail, but instead it looks as if the diminutive Ford has been removed from the path of rampaging Roberts. Consider the bigger picture and this is a startling predicament for England; to be unveiling yet another untried centre pairing, in one of the pivotal games of their World Cup campaign, after years of meticulous preparation.
Circumstances have conspired against them to a degree, but no matter how upbeat the party line, this is far from an ideal scenario.
Roberts and Williams are far more familiar centre side-kicks, alleviating the crushing loss of Jonathan Davies from Welsh plans. Yet, Warren Gatland has also been forced to accept the withdrawal of Leigh Halfpenny and Rhys Webb in recent weeks, so 11th-hour selection turmoil is by no means solely an English affliction.
But the hosts are implementing a momentous tactical shift and they are alone in that. Lancaster and his assistants will doubtless suggest they are selecting horses for this course, and that the slate will be clean again prior to the clash with Australia. But if the route- one trio of Farrell, Burgess and Barritt prove effective, Ford and Joseph may find that their artistry has been barged aside.