Plan looks like recipe for chaos
WELL done, Eddie Jones, for mixing things up and giving us plenty of new England starters to enjoy tomorrow. It should be great fun and very instructive — but I’m intrigued by the matchday dynamic of who captains the side.
Dylan Hartley, skipper throughout Eddie’s reign, is stepping down to the bench for the day and two co-captains have been named. Chris Robshaw, who captained the side for four years under Stuart Lancaster, and George Ford, who is one of the players who Eddie regularly lists as a co-captain.
It sounds like it could be a recipe for chaos.
How does it work? Who goes to the tunnel for the coin toss with the referee? Who does the pre-match talk in the changing room and who leads the team out?
Who makes the calls if and when Hartley comes on as a replacement? That scenario could be as early as the first minute if, perish the thought, Jamie George turned an ankle or took a knock to the head.
Does Hartley effectively take the day off from captain’s responsibilities and just play as the replacement hooker or is he still the England captain?
It’s complicated but I believe Robshaw should do the coin toss. The referee needs to know who he is dealing with and communicating with after the anthems finish and the action starts. If the designated skipper is Robshaw, then he must therefore lead the 23-man squad on to the field at Twickenham. He should also call the shots, literally, when Hartley is not on the pitch.
But if Hartley does come on, surely he has to take over the captaincy? He is the leader of the group and has done a brilliant job over the last two years.
Can you envisage legends of the game such as Richie McCaw or Martin Johnson coming on from the bench and not skippering the team?
This is not sustainable going forward. It’s one thing doing it in a friendly but not in the Six Nations or a World Cup. It won’t work.
To be honest, if it has been decided that George needs — and deserves — a start I would have given Hartley, like Owen Farrell, the day off altogether and brought another hooker in.
And do you know what I would really like to see sooner rather than later? Hartley start and finish a match. That’s what World Cupwinning skippers do. He is capable, playing very well and looks fit.
So the captaincy dynamic will provide much interest, as will the sight of Ellis Genge, Sam Simmonds and indeed George actually starting. There is a world of difference between starting a Test match and coming on for a 15-minute cameo at the end. The responsibility and pressure is entirely different.
George has won 19 England caps but every single one has been as a replacement and, for all his British and Irish Lions experience from touring New Zealand last summer, he will be extremely nervous in this clash.
Those nerves can affect your play, so he needs to feel that pressure in an England shirt from the start.