George ready to emerge from Hartley’s shadow
Jamie George has a pretty impressive record to boast about. He was the starting hooker in all three British and Irish Lions Tests against the All Blacks last year, was part of the Saracens side that claimed a famous double in 2016 and has four Premiership titles, two European Champions Cups, as many Six Nations championships and a Grand Slam to his name. All by the age of 28.
But he also has a rather unwanted record: last year George became the international player with the most caps without a start, before finally getting to wear the No 2 shirt for England in the autumn international victory over Samoa last November.
Not until now has he been selected as England’s starting hooker for a top level Test when Dylan Hartley has been available, such is Eddie Jones’ faith in his long-serving captain, but come Saturday George will be the one marching through the tunnel formed by the replacements attempting to gee-up their teammates in the minutes before kick-off.
Incredibly, this will be only George’s seventh start for England, having played against France in this year’s Six Nations when Hartley missed out with a calf injury and all three Test on the summer tour of South Africa as Hartley remain at home with concussion. Even though George retains the shirt against Australia, having started last weekend’s victory over Japan, it has never really felt like his to lose, which is why this show of faith from his coach is such a big call.
“I was buzzing when I heard,” said George. “I am very excited. The way the team is building, it is very special to be a part of that. It’s a hugely exciting week.”
But it hasn’t always been so easy for the Welwyn-born forward. 31 times he has run out wearing the red rose and on all but 25 of those occasions he has headed straight for the replacements’ bench. When he was first brought into the squad to learn under Hartley George could have no complaints, but after returning from the Lions tour, those questions became louder and louder to brush aside.
Should he be starting for England every match? Should Jones have made this decision sooner? What does he have to do to prove he is the best hooker in the country?
Those were the questions on the outside, but not inside George’s head.
“Yes it’s tough, but you have to take yourself out of the whole selection mode,” he explained. “I am very internally motivated. I’ve got my reasons why I want to be better and keep getting picked for England and Saracens.
“I always want to start the game – naturally, you always do. But that is often taken out of my hands. I don’t pick the team; if I did, then I’d have 100 caps. My focus has solely been on trying to get better, not get frustrated by the situation and I feel like that thought process has put me in a good place.
“As a competitive player, you want to be starting, but at the same time, I think Dylan’s been doing a fantastic job, I’ve got a huge amount of respect for him. It’s not as if I go back to my room and … (he feigns anger in a fit of rage). It is what it is but I learned it a bit at Saracens – I had Schalk Brits and John Smit in front of me for a long time. This thought process that I spoke about – I’ve been through it before, come out of the other side of it before and now I’m doing pretty well for Sarries, so hopefully it’s the same thing here.”
Having been at the forefront of a Saracens side that took Europe by storm not so long ago and then going on to match the All Blacks with the Lions, it was becoming increasingly hard for Jones to leave George out of his starting XV.
But one thing that the Australian has stressed time and time again since coming to these shores is that those filling the shirts numbered one to 15 are no different to those wearing 16 through 23.
“As far as we’re concerned we name a squad of 23,” said Jones. “The only reason we have to put 1 and 16 is because of World Rugby, otherwise I wouldn’t have it. I’d just have a squad of 23. We’d name 15 to run on and eight to finish. That’s the way the game’s going to be.”
Of course it’s easy for Jones to accept that as it is his own theory, but will players who have been taught their entire upbringing to do everything they can to make the starting line-up buy it? “They never will because of the media. Not in a negative way, there’s just more emphasis and status put on a starting guy than a finishing guy. That’s a hard thing to change but I think the players understand we’re a 23-man squad.”
While all of Jones’s players appear to be singing off the same hymn sheet publicly, it would be only natural for some of them to privately think otherwise when they fail to see their name in the starting XV.
But George offered some insight into how Jones goes about trying to prove it to the players that by being one of his ‘finishers’, they are just as important, if not more important, than his starters.
“It is difficult to take away the competitiveness of wanting to start but the thing that’s brilliant here especially – and Eddie does it fantastically – is he gives us a role and we’re finishers,” George said. “He’s like ‘you’re going to come on, I need you to look at the scrum’ so at half-time I’m talking with (scrum coach) Neil Hatley about how I feel the scrum is going on.
“That’s then those messages being delivered to the team so I’m constantly engaged in the game and I feel a part of it. One to 23 feel part of something special, even one to 25, so for me yes you want to start but the fact that you’re given this responsibility, ‘you’re going to get 20 minutes, 30 minutes or whatever it might be, we need you to come on and do X, Y and Z’, bang, I do my job for the team.”
George certainly sounds like one of the converted. But this weekend he can take a step towards ensuring that he no longer has to worry about starters and finishers and everything that comes with it. Facing the Wallabies will be his biggest chance yet for England to step out of Hartley’s shadow, but fail to take it and that 16 shirt will not be far away come the Six Nations next February.