Make Owen captain...let Dylan battle for his place
ENGLAND have plenty of advantages when building a Test team but possessing superior playing numbers is not one of them. There is such a thing as having too much choice and Eddie Jones will have to grapple with that this autumn.
A coach is looking for quality not quantity and sifting through more players — rather than fewer — is a difficult process that requires clear-cut thinking and brave decision-making.
And right now it is crunch time, with these first two rounds of the European Cup giving Eddie and his team plenty to chew on.
The 2018 Six Nations is going to be hugely challenging, I sense all the other home unions are moving in the right direction and I am convinced something good is happening in French rugby at last.
Certainly if France play with the same elan and power as La Rochelle did at Quins on Saturday night, life is about to get very interesting for the rest of us.
England need to start identifying their first-choice XV for this season’s Six Nations and then the run-up to the World Cup. They need to arrive in Japan as the No 1 team in the world, the team to beat.
Take the hooker position for example. All eyes were on Franklin’s Gardens last night where Dylan Hartley — a huge success as England captain over the last two years and currently the man in possession — and the Lions starting hooker Jamie George were in direct opposition.
In pure playing terms it was difficult to glean much from the game because it was so onesided and scrums and lineouts didn’t play a massive part in proceedings.
But what it did firm up in my mind is that Owen Farrell should now be made captain for the autumn. He is a true leader, the best player in his position, an automatic selection and England’s talisman going forward. Two years out from the World Cup he is now ready.
Hartley (right) has done an outstanding job as captain but now is the time for him to focus purely on his performance and his battle with George to retain his starting place. The moment George demonstrably becomes a better all-round hooker than Hartley is the moment the Saracen must start. There can be no fudging this call any more — in England, the No 1 skill when you are head coach is selection. And that applies throughout the team. With players coming through in Argentina in the summer, English Lions returning from New Zealand and the conveyor belt of the Under 20 side, Eddie is spoilt for choice. But that, by definition, means more huge decisions must be made. Every front-row position is up for grabs and at lock you can only pick two from Courtney Lawes, George Kruis, Joe Launchbury and Maro Itoje. There is still no clear pecking order at openside flanker. Chris Robshaw is at six and he must stay there, but the contenders are lining up and perhaps Itoje or Lawes are now being considered there, although that is not an avenue I would go down. England need to speed their forwards up because size does not win you a World Cup. At No 8 Billy Vunipola is injured again. Is Nathan Hughes playing well enough to automatically step in this autumn? Behind the scrum, can Mike Brown keep his position at full back? And what is the thinking at 13? What are the best positions for Elliot Daly and Anthony Watson? All the attention was on the Hartley/George clash and while it is a huge call, their rivalry is just a metaphor for what is happening throughout the England squad. Eddie has some of the biggest calls of his coaching career coming up.