Dylan Hartley had to be reminded this week that the last time he appeared for England off the bench was also Samoa’s last visit to Twickenham. His memory was jogged however when recalling the picture of England’s players crouched in a circle with their opponents in a show of support for their domestic struggles.
Depending on your levels of cynicism, that enduring image is either a gesture of goodwill or a PR’s dream but considering the strife in which Samoa still find themselves, it is worth revisiting – for you would get short odds on it happening again at full-time on Saturday. So much has changed in the ensuing three years – it was George Ford’s first England start and on Saturday he captains the side along with Chris Robshaw – but for the Pacific Islanders, so much stays the same.
And while there was plenty of logic to Dan Cole’s explanation of why England’s players would not be donating part of their match fees, equally there was inescapable disappointment in the squad’s decision that, in effect, it is not their place to get involved; a shame that no one saw fit to put their head above the parapet.
As it is, we are reduced once more to talking up Samoa’s threat in terms of their propensity to hit big, or to conjure the odd hair-raising moment from nothing, but for all their talent, the day they have genuine hopes of upsetting England at Twickenham feels further away still than in 2014.
“Our skills have got to be on the money because if not they’ll just come for you, flying off the line and wanting to hurt you,” Ford said. “Our basics have got to be brilliant. Touch wood I’ve never been in a car crash but I can imagine it’s as close to one as you can come. They get their energy from doing something like that and they’re very good at it, it’s no coincidence they’ve done it on numerous occasions. It’s our job to make sure they don’t get too many by being smart.”
It is to the credit of England’s defence coach, Paul Gustard, that he broke the mould on Friday – “It’s too easy to stereotype people of certain descent. They hit hard but we have guys who hit hard too” – but it is against an all too familiar backdrop that Eddie Jones truly shakes things up, out of choice, for the first time in his tenure. He has made tweaks to his starting XV before – and of course, numerous changes were forced on in Argentina over the summer – but Saturday marks the first time, after nearly two years at the helm, he rolls the dice at Twickenham.
The absences of Nathan Hughes and both Vunipolas leave England considerably short on ball-carriers – precisely the kind of poser Jones will relish setting his new-look side. Jones promised an exciting XV and largely he has delivered with Maro Itoje, Ellis Genge and Sam Simmonds all players to quicken the pulse among the forwards and the backline is littered with eye-catching talent. While the backs are Ford’s responsibility, Robshaw is taking charge of the forwards, back on the openside flank.
The return to the No7 jersey is undoubtedly symbolic but Robshaw eschews the road to redemption narrative. “As you get a bit older you probably do get a bit more relaxed, you don’t take things to heart as much,” he said. “You have that experience, you have the pain, you have the good times, the bad times, and you can see when there’s a guy having a bit of a tough situation and you can speak to them. People often think about these Winston Churchill speeches, a lot of the time it’s just being there for people; showing people you care.”
Jones continues to wax lyrical of the “glue” player he famously wrote off shortly before taking over as coach: “What I admire about him is the consistency of his application of effort. He understands his game beautifully and doesn’t try to play outside his game. He maximises what he’s got and he’s such a positive character around the team.”
If Jones knows what he is going to get from Robshaw, he is not averse to giving his players plenty of rope and there is the creeping sense he has picked a side whose instincts will be to look for width from the word go. He is unlikely to be pleased if that is the case, however, and one or two may find their World Cup hopes all but extinguished if that materialises.
Rather, Jones has asked for a structured, controlled victory – the kind he will also want against Tonga in England’s first World Cup match in 2019 – and he may warrant another call from his mother if England display the kind of haphazard approach they did against Samoa in 2014. Incidentally, that was the first of only two occasions Stuart Lancaster saw fit to pair Ford and Owen Farrell from the start – it did not really work, predominately because Farrell was out of form all autumn – while the man of the match that day was Robshaw, following a tireless performance at flanker. So much has changed.
