‘Kamikaze Kids’ ready for Australia legends
Sam Underhill and Tom Curry can win the battle of the openside duos, writes Mick Cleary
Two of the game’s most distinguished flankers, Peter Winterbottom, of England, and Wales’s Martyn Williams, believe that Sam Underhill and Tom Curry will be entirely at home on a red-carpet parade of back-row talent at the Oita Stadium when they step into the spotlight along with Wallabies David Pocock and Michael Hooper.
The young English pairing want for nothing, even though they are mere rookies compared with the Australians who have been at the forefront of the world game for the past decade – nuggety, influential, irrepressible. The Australians have 180 caps between them, Underhill and Curry a mere 28. The gulf is one of statistics, not one of class.
“Underhill looked the part even
as a youngster,” said Williams, the veteran Wales and Lions flanker who won a century of caps for his country. “He wasn’t in awe of anybody. I remember watching him when he was at the Ospreys. Physically, he was a specimen when he would only have been 19 or so. Technically, his tackling was terrific and has remained so. Some of his tackling against Argentina was first-class. Anyone who says you can’t make a dominant hit by going low should watch Underhill.”
Eddie Jones’ decision to pair the two natural opensides into a combination that offers speed as well as ball-carrying prowess to England reflects not just the way the breakdown is being refereed, but also a desire to get the squad’s best assets on to the field.
England have gone from famine to feast, with Jones saying during the 2015 World Cup that Chris Robshaw fell between two stools and was more a “six and a half ” than a seven. There are no such qualms about the “Kamikaze Kids”, as Jones has dubbed them. It is a set-up that mirrors Australia’s with Pocock and Hooper long ago, forsaking size for productivity and zeal at the breakdown. England can look forward to an era of similar high-end output.
“The pair have been a revelation,” said Winterbottom, who won 58 caps for his country and played seven Lions Tests. “You get your best players on the field and the four flankers on Saturday are all opensides, in truth. The game has changed in many ways, but the essence of a good openside hasn’t. He is there to be a pain in the backside to the opposition. “Underhill and Curry are not in the traditional, small openside mould. They are both very powerful, good over the ball but proficient carrying it, too. Flankers have to have a high work rate, and they tick that box, too. There was a stat about