WRW SIX NATIONS EXTRA
Martin ready to make his mark
GOOD LUCK GEORGE
And so it came to pass, that in February 2021, that one George Martin would be set for his England debut against Wales.
The comparison to Martin Johnson is not the worst, given how he was a late replacement for Wade Dooley in 1993 against France and ended up doing the same in New Zealand with the Lions that summer. If Courtney Lawes wasn’t struggling with injury himself, would Martin have got in?
Congratulations principally go to Martin himself whose hard work and ability to learn quickly have been keys to his drive to an international career. Even if he is left by the wayside as has happened under Eddie Jones, time is on his side to deliver in the long-term.
Credit too goes to those who have helped him along the way. They and he will know who they are - but Loughborough RFC, Leicester Lions and everyone in the Tigers Academy pathway can take a pat on the back.
The challenge now is to make sure that Martin will not be the last Tigers Academy player for a decade to make it to England level.
The irony is that Martin’s introduction masks what is a highly conservative selection by Jones for the biggest England game since the World Cup in 2019. The plan has clearly been to get the Saracens players up to speed for this game, then France and Ireland after that. This is the acid test for that strategy, even with defeat to Scotland behind them.
Can England continue to improve as they did against Italy? Are Wales really improving that much under Pivac? This is a truly fascinating game coming up in Cardiff.
FRENCH FARCE
Incidentally, I’m not sure this has been quite picked up on enough in the UK, partly because it doesn’t directly involve England. But the postponement - not the cancellation - of France v Scotland is going to cause chaos. Let’s work out how we get here.
Admittedly, listening to Benjamin Kayser is hardly a trial but you have a choice of him either on Rugby Union Weekly (from 6.20 onwards) or on Le French Rugby Podcast (from 00:43 onwards)
So France picked up a number of positive Covid tests within their camp after the win in Dublin. They weren’t due to come back to camp until last Thursday which delayed the whole process and new testing this week produced another positive test which ultimately did for Sunday’s game. There is no scope for cancelling the game a la the Premiership and as this piece from Hugh Godwin explains, various unattractive options now remain.
There are three upshots of this entirely forseeable situation:
Cancelling the game when everybody is on their financial uppers, blowing £3 million up the swanee - much of which is shared around the pot and some benefits directly the English clubs - seems crazy. I have great sympathy with the clubs with all these calls on players, but refusing to stage the game in a fallow week seems on this case, cutting your nose off to spite your face.
Premiership Rugby releasing the Scotland players on a one-off basis would do them decent credit, when decent PR stories haven’t always been easy to find. Any other option is far worse for player welfare.The French need to take a good long look at themselves.
The FFR and the clubs made a huge song and dance (but not unjustified) about covid testing during the European club competitions. The French Government has got involved to make sure Six Nations protocols were even tighter.
The French training base at Marcoussis (pointed out by the arrow) is even further out of town than, say England are at Bagshot. It’s in a little country suburb, miles away from Paris.
And yet, it was thought a good idea to release the players back home - many of them heading back to the South of France - after the win in Dublin.
Much more seriously, L’Equipe, Midi Olympique and most of the French rugby press have fingered the main culprit for breaking the bubble for a nice trip to Paris…none other than that nice man Fabien Galthie. The suggestion that he may have attempted to blame a physiotherapist instead has gone down as well as you might imagine.
Doubtless. there will be an investigation about this. Let the fur fly.
TIGERS AT BRISTOL
Don’t forget the early kick-off this weekend, with Wales v England off at 4.45pm.
Did you envisage Leicester rotating that much though?
Put Wiese and Liebenberg in that pack and it’s still tasty - and I’m not knocking Harry Wells especially (one of my players of recent months) or Ollie Chessum.
But without Wiese for a month and Liebenberg next week, perhaps that has swung Borthwick into resting Montoya and Brink when they will need that ball-carrying in that immediate period. Of course, there are five very winnable games to come, plus whatever happens in Europe, over the next two months.
Plus, without Nadolo, who would you pick to mark Piutau and Naulago? Leicester’s midfield is the most inexperienced part of the selection and that will be where Tigers are targetted for the most parts.
The challenge for Leicester is to stop Bristol getting ball at source. Exeter and before them, Saracens have shown the way to beat the Bears and we will find out if Leicester have been listening and watching.
GIGENA HAS HIS SAY
Sounds like now ex-Tigers prop Facundo Gigena’s decision to leave Welford Road was his and his alone, judging by comments back in Argentina:
"When I arrived at the club and signed my contract, there were staff members that were stood down. This led to me changing my plans in terms of staying on at the club because I didn't feel as comfortable as I was under the prior coaches.”
“For this reason, I took the decision to speak with the club to annul my contract and that is how it ended. With the decision made, and having said that I was leaving Leicester, London Irish showed interest and as soon as it could be done, we started talks for me to join the team."
“After a month of this, my arrival was confirmed. I was so overwhelmed with happiness because it is a very important club and one with many important challenges ahead. London Irish came back to the elite level after two years and it did so with great strength, the club has international players of an impressive calibre."
QUICK HITS
If you want to plan your late summer holidays in 2023….
England start off in Marseille against Argentina, face Japan in Nice before meeting two qualifiers in Lille.
At least we’re not playing Iceland…
And switching codes for one second, we’ve all seen this by now…?
If you haven’t, savour and drink in the one-eyed, unadorned quality of this commentary…Bill McLaren, it isn’t…
Meet the man who can now “spake”
RUNNING FROM DEEP
Looks like things are beginning to move in the right direction for Australian rugby. A Lions tour in 2025 (and maybe in 2021?) plus a likely men’s World Cup hosting in 2027 so at least the outgoing chief executive had the good sense to slag off an old buffer like Alan Jones on this way out to the Sydney Morning Herald.
Jones has traded off coaching the 1984 Wallabies for years (and how did you coach the Ellas exactly?), went briefly into the NRL (bit like Woodward going to Southampton) and has been one of Sydney’s right-wing shock-jocks of many years….think TalkRadio but even more nuts.
Jones was vociferous taking down ex-CEO Raelene Castle down…and her interim replacement Rob Clarke has returned the favour:
“There are certain individuals, and I’ll mention Alan Jones as one, who I just think consistently takes the negative approach and the personal approach which I find very disappointing,” Clarke said.
“Alan was one of the Wallabies’ most successful coaches and made a very significant contribution to rugby nearly 40 years ago. Yet the last decade or two, the focus of his commentary, in particular on rugby administrators, has been mostly playing the man, or in Raelene’s case, was playing the woman and not the ball or the issue.
….
“Very often it’s based on incorrect and incomplete information, which creates and perpetuates false narratives. His tone in particular has become so predictably vitriolic and bitter and twisted that in my view he’s lost a lot of credibility. Many people have now switched off because he’s just constantly denigrating the game.
“I personally have resigned myself to accepting each of his barbs as a badge of honour. Frankly, very few people I think now take them seriously.”
And up yours, Alan…
This will be why Clohessy’s Bar was shut last time I was in Limerick..
And to finish where we started with the Six Nations, this whole Scotland-France business leaves few feeling flash , according to Rob Kitson:
What a mess, with Gregor Townsend rightly stressing he wants his full team out. The July option might be theoretically do-able if this summer’s Lions tour is abandoned, but that now seems unlikely. The only certainty is that, for the second successive year, the Guinness Six Nations championship will have its grand finale diluted. Next month’s annual Super Saturday climax will have to be downgraded to Maybe Saturday.
That’s it for this week/ Look forward to your company on the wireless again tomorrow before we all head for the telly.
Cheers,
Chris
Another insightful piece Chris they get better and better massive compliments on your research 👍Look forward to hearing you on my ‘ wireless ‘ stay safe best regards Bill