‘Old man’ Haskell being nursed back to his fighting best
While Ben Te’o is at the ‘novice’ end of the England bench with just five caps, James Haskell is the daddy of the ‘finishers’, with the 72-cap Grand Slam stalwart being eased back into action against Wales and France following his serious foot injury.
Haskell says he is grateful that he is being looked after thanks to the appliance of sports science under Eddie Jones, having sat out a brutal Tuesday training session before making his comeback in front of Prince Harry in Friday’s open house at Twickenham.
Haskell observed: “It’s the way we train every time now, it’s super intense. Eddie keeps an eye on the GPS data and how we train, and that marks progressions across the board, which he smiles about. Then we go even harder next time. It means that when you’re confronted with a game, you’ll think clearly under the chaos.”
Haskell, whose bruising final quarter carrying put England on the front foot against the French and Welsh, said: “I didn’t train too much on Tuesday, I sat back and watched. It was one of the hardest sessions I’ve seen. I thought, ‘oh my God, I might have to retire’. But I think that’s always a bit of a trick of the mind when you’re watching.”
He added: “They just wanted to look after me in terms of workload and things with my foot, making sure I’m able to perform. Jack (Clifford) didn’t train and Courtney (Lawes) didn’t train. They’re very good here at monitoring how much boys have done and what they need to do.”
Despite being one of the first names in the team-sheet since Jones took over, Haskell said the bench experience had been an eye-opener. “It’s a different mind-set but I enjoy it either way. The good thing about Eddie’s squad is that it really is about the 23. In the past you would have been gutted that you’re not getting the starting shirt. Obviously I am, but it doesn’t have the same disappointment because you know you’ve got a massive role to play.”
He elaborated: “With the word ‘finisher’ rather than ‘substitute’ you understand that you’ve got a role to play when you come on. There are only a couple of guys who haven’t been used (in the first two rounds). So, you know you’re going to have to come on at some point – and that you have to deliver.
“We get the same care and attention as the guys starting, and in the warm-up there are constant little messages to see what’s going on in the game and to come on and use the opportunity. It’s something we’ve worked on – instead of having the starting 15 and then guys coming on and not really adding, now we have focused on changing that.”
As a result, Haskell said that England were unlikely to suffer from making five or six changes against Italy as they did four years ago when Stuart Lancaster’s side struggled to an 18-11 home win.
“We are in a very different place, although it’s always difficult to compare. You’ve seen the way we trained, where everyone is intermingled the entire time, with a big usage of people coming off the bench. So, I don’t think changes will affect us too much – and we would not be in a good place if they did. We’ve lost guys like Billy and Mako (Vunipola) for a period of time, and guys have transitioned into those positions. So, I’d like to think we would be in a good place. It’s important never to make changes for change’s sake, and it’s about what’s best for the team and getting the win.” Haskell also revealed that while he was raring to play 80 minutes against the Azzurri, he was going to have to “manage” the injury to his toe for the foreseeable future. “It’s one of those things. It’s an ongoing process. A lot of people would assume that you have surgery, come back and everything’s going to be great. It’s been a bit of a longer road for me – it’s not perfect. But I’m being managed well, and I hope it’s one of things that will progressively get better over time, but it’s not always the easiest, unfortunately. It just goes to prove how important your foot is – you do everything with it, especially when you play sport. You have good days and you have bad days, but that’s the nature of the injury I’ve got.” Haskell said that using alternative therapy was not out of the question: “I have done acupuncture, I have done electro acupuncture. I have not done any mad stuff, no reiki crystals and no-one has sacrificed any animals on my behalf. I should go to Fiji and get wrapped in those leaves that Nadolo had that fixed his leg in three weeks!” He added: “You have to be very careful in professional sport – I am not going to get some bloke hook me up to his car battery and tell me he is going to electro-shock my toe back to life. I try to be reasonably astute, but if someone told me there would be some sort of amazing thing that would work I would try it.” The upside is that Haskell says his speed around the pitch has not been compromised – and the way the French and Welsh felt the flanker’s full tilt contributions off the bench reinforced the claim. “Eddie calls me an old man all the time, so I don’t think he thinks I’m faster. I’ve just worked very hard on my mobility. That is one thing I looked at with my game – where can I improve? I run a fitness business, and people get bogged down with the idea I spend all my time in the gym. I never do any bodybuilding training or anything like that.” Haskell added: “All my training is focused around mobility and being a better rugby player. That’s what I’ve hammered hard. We’ve got Dean Benton and he’s been great. We’ve done a lot of stretching sessions. I just move a bit better. I probably look more like a T1000 (Terminator android) as opposed to a wardrobe with a head – but I don’t think I’ll be Usain Bolt any time soon.” Maybe not, but expect old man Haskell to give the Italian back row a run for its money.