The autumn leaves are falling and Tom Wood is due to turn 30 next week. A year has passed since the flanker featured in England’s underperforming World Cup squad and his Northampton side have torn up few trees in the Premiership’s early weeks. To be back in Eddie Jones’s November plans, after revealing the Australian called him “distinctly average” in a phone conversation earlier this year, is a striking reversal of fortune.
Injuries to other back-row candidates have played their part while plenty of bodies still remain to be climbed over, notably his club-mate Teimana Harrison, before Wood makes the starting XV to face South Africa on 12 November. As a poster boy for perseverance, the hirsute 29-year-old has few peers and there will be no one keener to impress when England fly to the Algarve on Sunday for warm weather training.
On his arrival in Portugal, Wood could receive a few more caustic words given Jones has denied using the phrase “distinctly average” in their previous discussions. “That is not something I say ... he has obviously got a vivid memory,” muttered the coach having announced his latest selection. “I might have said he had no standout parts of his game.”
So why recall him now? “It might be the long hair and the beard. He might be like Samson – he gets stronger with the long hair and the beard.”
The truth is less romantic. Wood had been brusquely ordered to go away and work harder off the ball and has now satisfied Jones in that regard, in addition to his obvious strengths in the lineout. “The standout part of his game now is his work rate,” Jones said. “Maybe he was comfortable, maybe he felt there was a sense of entitlement about him being in the England side. What I like about him is that he has gone back, looked at himself and found ways to improve himself. His work off the ball is a lot better. He’s got a bit more dynamism to his ball-carrying which, previously, he didn’t have. I’m looking for him to come in and make a difference in that back row, to be the work rate-type player. He could be a six or seven. We’ll spin the dice.”
When they cease rolling it would seem Chris Robshaw, Billy Vunipola and Harrison are the likeliest starting trio against the Springboks, with Wood battling Nathan Hughes and Ben Morgan for a bench spot in the absence of, among others, Maro Itoje, James Haskell, Jack Clifford, Sam Jones and Mike Williams. The precise pecking order is set to be determined in Portugal where some more heavy-duty sessions await.
Among those jostling Wood for redemption will be Morgan, who has belatedly risen from the ashes of England’s World Cup disappointment after impressing Jones with his improving fitness. “He’s a lot fitter, mate,” the coach said. “He used to have that little gut but he hasn’t got that any more. As soon as you lose that gut you’re in contention to play for England. He’s also got something you can’t coach – power. You saw the influence Lopeti Timani had for Australia [against New Zealand] last Saturday at No8. Powerful No8s – we are blessed now we’ve got Billy, we’ve got Nathan Hughes, we’ve got Ben Morgan.”
There is even a chance of Morgan or Hughes being deployed on the blindside flank but Vunipola will be going nowhere. “Billy’s not a six, he’s an eight,” stressed Jones. “I don’t think we’ve got a jumper big enough at six to fit him. We’re talking about an injury crisis but we’ve got those three at eight, at six we’ve got Robshaw, Hughes, Ben Morgan and Tom Wood and at seven we’ve got Teimana Harrison, Wood and possibly Hughes. Out of every situation comes a lot of positivity.”
Not so, perhaps, for the Wasps’ half-backs Dan Robson and Danny Cipriani. However, the Sale full-back Mike Haley, Saracens’ fly-half Alex Lozowski, Bath’s Dave Attwood and Charlie Ewels, and Harlequins’ loosehead Kyle Sinckler are in Jones’s good books. Sinckler looks poised for a Test debut against the Boks as Dan Cole’s understudy.
He invariably catches the eye in the loose but the management feel his set-piece game has improved sufficiently to oust Northampton’s Paul Hill. “Sinckler’s done well at tighthead … he has really benefited from tuition from [his Quins’ team-mate] Adam Jones. He is working hard off the ball and there aren’t so many histrionics off the ball. He’s getting on with the game more now.”
On the opposite side of the front row there were also warm words for Mako Vunipola, whose form for Saracens has been world class. “Sometimes it’s hard to tell whether it’s Mako or Billy carrying the ball,” said Jones, approvingly. “People talk about the All Blacks skill-sets but Mako’s got a skill-set better than all those All Blacks’ tight forwards. You can just see he’s got that thirst to be really good in every game now.”
If Jones’s entire squad follow suit, the constant chatter about injuries will soon die away.
England squad for autumn series
Backs Mike Brown (Harlequins), Alex Goode (Saracens), Mike Haley (Sale Sharks), Jonny May (Gloucester), Semesa Rokoduguni (Bath), Marland Yarde (Harlequins), Eliot Daly (Wasps), Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby), Henry Slade (Exeter), Ben Te’o (Worcester), Owen Farrell (Saracens), Alex Lozowski (Saracens), George Ford (Bath), Danny Care (Harlequins), Ben Youngs (Leicester ). Forwards Jamie George (Saracens), Dylan Hartley (Northampton), Tommy Taylor (Wasps), Ellis Genge (Leicester), Joe Marler (Harlequins), Mako Vunipola (Saracens), Dan Cole (Leicester), Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins), Joe Launchbury (Wasps), Courtney Lawes (Northampton), Dave Attwood (Bath), Charlie Ewels (Bath), Nathan Hughes (Wasps), Chris Robshaw (Harlequins), Teimana Harrison (Northampton), Tom Wood (Northampton), Billy Vunipola (Saracens), Ben Morgan (Gloucester).
