WRW SIX NATIONS EXCLUSIVE: WHAT TO DO WITH NEW CAPS
Mat Tait tells WRW of what happened around that game in Cardiff
HELLO AGAIN
Yes, to regular readers of WRW, it is Friday. So what is this doing in my inbox today?
Well, it’s another experiment.
When WRW started late last year, that was the spirit behind it, to compile thoughts, order and publish them and see what happens. You know, like an experiment. I’ve been genuinely surprised by how well the content has gone down and thank you so much for all your comments and feedback
But, for the duration of the Six Nations, I’m going to produce a second weekly newsletter each week for the Championship. And it just so happens we have a decent story to tell…
MAT TAIT EXCLUSIVE: HOW NOT TO TREAT YOUR NEW CAPS
George Ford’s return to the starting fifteen will be a welcome start as England look to add some creativity against Italy this weekend. Frankly, why you would leave the country’s most creative playmaker out when you’re short of that extra zip in attack leaves you wondering.
But the mysteries of Eddie Jones’ thought processes are enough to rival Agatha Christie. Can you work out how he comes up his calls? I bet Luther Burrell struggles…
There must be something about 12s and the Australian. Ollie Lawrence must be wondering whether to give the ex-Northampton centre a call or a WhatsApp message. Yes, if one comes in, one must come out. But Lawrence - full of promise - has every right to be incandescent at its manner.
Lawrence isn’t the only one to suffer in circumstances like this. The benchmark for being a new cap and then being brutally cast aside is of course Mathew Tait.
Picked 24 hours before his 19th birthday, he famously made his debut against Wales in Cardiff in 2005. Midway in the second half, Andy Robinson replaced him with Olly Barkley. The England coach soon admitted he had made a mistake.
"Believe me, I look at myself in the mirror every day and regret what happened to Mathew," he admitted, referring to the now notorious decision to pick Tait, an 18-year-old centre from Newcastle, against Wales in Cardiff in the opening round of the last Six Nations, and then drop him like a stone after substituting him midway through the second half. "The timing of his debut was wrong, it was my fault and it made me question my powers of selection. I shouldn't have put him in the position he found himself in. Still, he's been playing really well these last couple of weeks and that delights me. I've been very impressed and I have no doubt whatsoever that he has a big future ahead of him."
Tait briefly relayed his memories after he retired, last year:
“If that day had gone better, I might not have experienced Hong Kong and the Commonwealth Games [in sevens, where he won a silver medal], some of the highs of my career. But I also look back and think it probably could have been handled better. I’m sure Andy Robinson would say the same. Would that happen now? Probably not. It’s one of those things, you just crack on.”
So I spent some time on the phone with him last night, to go into it a bit more. “No problem, the therapy’s worked since then.”
First things first, the two scenarios may not be similar. Lawrence is 21, Tait is 18. And there’s maybe more besides.
“We’re not privy to what goes on behind the scenes and we don’t know how those conversations have gone. From what we’re told, Eddie Jones has a good relationship with the players although he burns through his staff. But you have to remember too that Scotland had the vast majority of the ball in the first half. If he’d had a poor game and passes not gone to hand, that might be different.”
“You can look at this weekend as a chance to blood young players but Eddie Jones gets judged on winning games. You suspect with Ford at 10 and Farrell at 12, there will be an element of tactical kicking again, playing Italy and squeezing them for territory, given the way they play. There might be an element here of horses for courses,” he said.
16 years on..
But any conversation around new caps being treated roughly always draws you back to Cardiff in 2005 - the first time England had been away to Wales since claiming the World Cup. Talk quickly turns to that path, because let’s face it. Tait’s example is still the gold standard when it comes to meteoric rises.
“When the initial squad was named at the start of the season, there was a wider squad - similar to what Eddie’s done this year - which they called the Senior National Academy. (Tait was one of 15 named alongside a host of fresh talent - Louis Deacon, Harry Ellis, Ollie Smith and then-Tiger & future Quins captain, Will Skinner among them). The apprentices, if you like.”
“We’d been involved with training and they’d gone reasonably well. Then we went up to Loughborough for a training camp up there, where it’d had kind of gone from “Well, we’re thinking about including you..” to “Actually, you’re starting.”
”A few weeks earlier, I’d signed my first professional contract at Newcastle and here I was playing in the Six Nations. I still can’t remember too many details about that week, but up to that point, I can’t remember being overwhelmed about it. It had felt that it was meant to be. I had been playing pretty well in the Premiership, we’d beaten Perpignan in the Heineken Cup and I’d done ok in that. I’d played in some big games, albeit obviously not many at that point.”
“I’d always watched the Six Nations but when it came to the day, as ridiculous as it sounds, I didn’t realise the vitriol and even in the week before the game, it didn’t enter my head but I do remember the banging on the bus on the way in.”
“ The anthems were terrific and especially so because the roof was closed. You add all that up and I swear I could barely hear the backs calls from Jamie. The pitch was crap cause it kept cutting up. It almost felt it was written in the stars, that Henson was going to have that day.”
“The day was complete because we walked back to the family car in Cardiff. My family had an English flag on their number plate and when we got there, they discovered some delightful individual had decided to smash the back window in. So the crowning glory of the day was to drive home to my relatives’ place in Leicestershire with a polythene sheet on the back window, freezing cold.”
Tait had been taken off midway through the second half for Olly Barkley but the after-effects didn’t kick in until later.
“I think I went back to Newcastle on the Sunday. I’m sure we played Wasps at home then and I ended up going back to watch the game. I don’t think I saw Rob Andrew, but I’m sure I got a supportive text from him, Steve Black and a good few of the senior players, but we were back in camp the following week and that week proved to be tougher.”
“I didn’t doubt myself then, but it did have an effect after that for sure. Whether that was because of the game or the way it was handled afterwards, I don’t know.”
“When we got together again at Pennyhill Park, I was told that not only would I not be playing but I wouldn’t be in the 23. at all. A coach never does anything to hurt a player but a decision is always in the best interests of the team and it should always be that way. But could it have been handled differently? Yes.”
The decision that really rankled was the decision to keep Tait in Surrey and not clear his mind entirely in the North-East.
“I basically then had to hang around camp and sit in a box behind the posts with Dave Alred and others and watch the game. It was a case of “Look at what you could have won.”
Tait would then have to wait over a year to get back into the XVs but starred on the England sevens team which made the final of the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
But the experience did have positive effects when he became a senior player himself with Leicester Tigers.
“It does make you empathetic. I mean, I’d always tried to help people anyway but there was a lot of senior players at Newcastle there who would do that. Matt Burke always had time to help out the younger guys in the squad. If you did extras at training, then Jonny would be there for you. Same for Jamie Noon.”
England now
Ollie Lawrence can’t leave camp too now, but of course, that’s down to the dreaded Covid. But I bet he understands the frustrations Tait felt in 2005 now.
But what of England going forward?
”I don’t think they underestimated Scotland. Eddie has his players like any coach, but he might well have thought they had enough to get by, get through Italy and with a couple of games to get up to speed, to take on Wales. Scotland actually kicked more than England, but then they were poor against France in the opening game last year, albeit in a very different circumstance. We would all be poor if we hadn’t played in two months.”
"You wonder with Eddie how much the opposition filters into his selection plans. Ford, Farrell and Manu were excellent against New Zealand in the World Cup but I wonder if Eddie regrets picking that combination against South Africa in the Final.”
Tait also would love to see more of one midfield formation barely tried by Eddie Jones since he came to England in 2016. The only time Ford and Henry Slade have been tried without Farrell was a year later in 2017, when the Saracens playmaker was with the Lions in New Zealand.
Ford and Slade played together in all three Tests in Argentina (Lozowski, Francis and Joseph made up the numbers in midfield), with the paid reunited to face Samoa that autumn (with Lozowski) when Farrell was rested. Tait would love to see them given a try.
“You have two playmakers there, with Slade being solid in defence. Partner that with Lawrence and it’s a combination with two playmakers and a ball-carrier. But Eddie knows Farrell. Is he playing his best rugby? No, compared to his standards.”
(C) Welford Road Weekly
SIX NATIONS ROUND TWO: PREVIEW
Saturday
2.15 England v Italy (Twickenham)
Eddie Jones’ selection isn’t entirely without merit. Have felt that they took a chance against Scotland, hoping to be match sharp for Wales, France and Ireland.
Ford is back so surely England will score tries. Italy are young, callow and only to be encouraged.
4.45 Scotland v Wales (Murrayfield)
Can’t call this one. Scotland with home advantage to exploit Wales’ serious injury problems.
Sunday
15.00 Ireland v France (Dublin)
Andy Farrell is under more pressure than some over here would admit. If they were to lose to France, it practically ends their Championship after just two games.
Fascinated to see how this goes for Billy Burns and few would wish him ill, after last week in Cardiff. But then as Gabriel Clarke’s excellent piece for ITV about Fabien Galthie explains, France are developing in something else entirely…run by a man, half charmer, half psychopath.
LEICESTER v HARLEQUINS
Interesting team selection as ever. Montoya remains ahead of Tom Youngs, with Taute captaining after his recall with Moroni switched to wing ahead of Van Wyk, who hasn’t quite settled after his exploits with the Hurricanes.
No Wiese who is given a break but that back-row still has plenty of muscle with Martin and Liebenberg.
Two most eye-catching selections for me. Heyes will relish packing down alongside De Bruin and Montoya and Van Poortvliet ahead of White again in scrum-half slot, with Wigglesworth rotated.
Not much change here as you’d expect, after two thumping back-to-back wins.
Also, it’s off at Newcastle…
RUNNING FROM DEEP
I ran out of room last Wednesday but this surely can’t be true….Gavin Mairs saying the Premiership didn’t get their homework in on time. Surely, ring-fencing a matter of time now, though?
It is thought that the broadcaster has made their position clear to PRL. There is also concern about the impact of the integrity of next year’s league given that expanding to 13 clubs will ensure that one club will have played all its fixtures ahead of the final round of games ahead of the play-offs.
The vote was also to endorse the beginning of wide-ranging discussions between the RFU, PRL and the Championship clubs over league structures beyond 2022, including securing greater access to England players for head coach Eddie Jones in the build-up to the 2023 World Cup in France.
I couldn’t agree more with Charles Richardson in the Telegraph. Italy are there to be stuck with, not dropped - however the format of the Six Nations takes shape in a CVC-influenced future:
Italy let themselves down with sloppy, individual errors on Saturday, but the beginnings of 15-man fluency were evident. Yet, calls to boot them out of the Six Nations continued in earnest. They are not even worth dignifying with a response. What could such laziness and myopia achieve? How would that aid the development of a nation whose production line is still churning out talents such as that of Garbisi and Polledri? In weeks like this, even if Italy are to be trounced by England at Twickenham on Saturday, it is worth remembering that Georgia have never beaten the Azzurri and, if their attacking intent, intelligence and intrepidity continues to develop, that is unlikely to change soon.
And if taking a knee truly offends you, then frankly, do one. Much like Anthony Watson said at the England press conference this week. This from The Guardian:
“Particularly with the kneeling stuff and the Black Lives Matter stuff, I think that if people were educated fully on why kneeling was started, then they would be in a much better place to comment on what we are doing and what is going on. Not everyone who is kneeling is directly associated with the Black Lives Matter organisation because some of their views, in my opinion, are extreme. But the importance of kneeling to raise awareness of social injustice, I think is still massively important. So to see people on social media trying to discredit its importance … I can’t let that slide.
“My point is that people don’t really understand that not everyone who is kneeling is directly correlated to the Black Lives Matter organisation. People just want to jump on that because it is their way of disagreeing with it instantly and, for me personally, I can’t let that slide.”
RIP
Back next Wednesday. Enjoy your rugby this weekend and whatever you do.
Great idea to write two blogs during the Six Nations, plenty of material to cogitate. Seems Jones has a blind spot when it comes to Farrel, George is head and shoulders a better 10 and IMHO as a Captain.
Very interesting this week, a youthful looking Tigers, be interesting how JVP goes up against the wily old Care.