Is this it for the World Cup? If so, Stuart Lancaster is battening down the hatches a bit early and this England are not going to frighten too many of the big boys at the next global gathering here in our own backyard. It’s as though the much-vaunted conveyor belt of young talent has been turned off and that England’s head coach, armed with his six-year contract, already has Japan 2019 at the back of his mind. OK, players such as Henry Slade, Anthony Watson and Dave Ewers will be invited along to the England HQ in Pennyhill Park but they are for the future.
The present, barring the hopeful return of some of the injured men such as Dan Cole, Alex Corbisiero, Manu Tuilagi and probably Tom Croft, was announced on Wednesday.
Or, in Tuilagi’s case, not announced. He was neither in the 33-strong squad for the autumn Tests nor among those written off completely as injured, which suggests two possible conclusions: that England’s head coach isn’t prepared to take the word of his club medics that Tuilagi will be out for a couple of months, and possibly until January, or that he’s desperate for the Leicester bowling ball to take some part in the autumn festivities.
If the latter is true, then you can see why. For New Zealand, South Africa, Samoa and Australia, England have a solid, serviceable pack but behind them there is the usual big hole. Barring something fresh turning up – and we’ll come to that later – it’s hard to see an England midfield that is going to unpick an All Black or Springbok defence, and I’d quibble at some of the language used by Lancaster when he laid out the template for the kind of guy he wants in his side.
I’ve no problem with England’s head coach holding up Jonny Wilkinson as an example. What’s not to admire? No, it’s the use of the word flash – as in “to be the best, it is not about the flash stuff” – that gets in the way. For someone so used to steering a course through the minefield that is an England press conference, it sounded a little naive.
Honest? Possibly but that might easily suggest that all those who did not make the cut this time now have that label permanently tied around their necks. There are some that might deserve it but David Strettle flash? Danny Cipriani flash?
Once, certainly, but the latter in particular has been desperate not to appear flash for a couple of seasons and you can understand why his boss at Sale, Steve Diamond, questioned whether it was the club not the player who was being penalised.
Diamond isn’t without a little devil in his words when it comes to taking on authority but it is hard to argue with this: “In reality, being at Sale is a disservice to him [Cipriani] and if he was at one of the three or four big clubs he’d be picked. That’s [how it is being] translated to the player; that he’s come a long way but the other three are in front of him and their clubs are more successful than us.”
Behind a Bath, Saracens or Northampton pack Cipriani would, of course, look better. No argument but picking a Test fly-half is more than selecting someone who goes well when he’s always on the front foot. In fact, I’d argue that it’s the No10 who keeps his head and his talent, his eye for a gap, a mismatch or an overlap in extremis who is the better Test match decision-maker.
The truth is that Cipriani is playing for a side who have won only two of their first six Premiership games, whereas others are playing for consistent winners.
No matter that he looked the part in New Zealand this summer, especially in the midweek game against the Crusaders, the Sale fly-half has slipped down rugby’s greasy pole and his omission is somehow symbolic of the entire selection.
Looking at the 33 it is perfectly possible, even with some of those difficult injuries, to pick a side that will battle for 60 minutes but what then? It’s hard to pick the game-changers who are going to come on from the England bench, whereas the All Blacks, as they have proved a few times recently, and South Africa have replacements who can change dull patterns and performances.
Next week Bath will unveil the guy who you suspect England are hoping will make all the difference – Sam Burgess – a couple of weeks late because of the facial damage caused in his last rugby league outing. Now each time anyone mentions Burgess it has to be after the health warning that a change from league to union is massive and that a year is precious little time even to get a handle on the basics.
However, take a look at England with 18-and-a-half stone of ball-playing, sidestepping, kicking, tackling international rugby league player of the year in the No12 shirt – with Tuilagi outside him – and everything starts to look a whole load rosier for the red rose.
