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Coach hints at what's next for Beno Obano after 'phenomenal' form
By Jon Newcombe
Bath Head of Rugby Johaan van Graan has hailed the “phenomenal” form of Beno Obano who is being backed to make his England return in the upcoming Guinness Six Nations.
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With senior quartet, Ellis Genge, Joe Marler, Mako Vunipola and Bevan Rodd all struggling with injuries, the door has opened for Obano to add to the three caps he won in 2021.
Obano, 29, made his Test debut in the 11-6 defeat to Scotland and followed it up with caps against USA and Canada later that summer.
Mainly due a bad ACL injury, Obano has been out of the England picture ever since but Steve Borthwick, who is due to name his squad next Wednesday, can’t have failed to have been impressed by what he saw during Bath’s 17-10 win against Gloucester last weekend.
Whilst not telling Borthwick who he should or shouldn’t pick, van Graan was effusive in his praise for Obano, who could end up being captained by his cousin, Maro Itoje.
“Steve has got a very good plan and he has been very proactive in meeting with all the clubs. He has informed us of all of his plans so you know we will help him as much as we can from an alignment point of view.
“We have discussed numerous individual players, which I won’t go into, but what I will say about Beno, being his coach at Bath, is that he has had a phenomenal season.
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“I will leave the decision making for Steve, but Beno has been in fantastic form for Bath.”
Obano has been a force of nature with ball in hand as well as providing Bath with a strong scrum platform.
In eight league matches, the Londoner has made more post-contact metres (60) than any other prop in the Gallagher Premiership, according to Oval Insights data, and now he looks primed to join potential England captain, Itoje, in an England jersey.
“Last season he had that massive injury, he finished the season well, worked so hard on his fitness, and he has got a real point of difference, and that is his ball carrying. He has done that really well,” said van Graan.
“And how good has our scrum been over the course of the season? We have been so dominant with Beno specifically on the loose-head side, backed up by Juan (Schoeman) and Thomas (du Toit), and then on the other side with Thomas, Archie Griffin and Will Stuart.”
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Neither Mako nor Gunge are solid enough in the scrum, same for Sinkhole on the other side, if you can’t scrum you can’t win. Obano seems to have improved and in the absence of Marler and Rodd would seem to be next in line, Iyogun if he could stay fit.
England did very well in the scrum at the last 6 nations, and had Sinckler and Genge starting with Mako on the bench in all 5 games.
People’s minds seem very clouded by the recency of the world cup. (1) Yes, there are better scrummagers than Genge, Mako, and Sinckler, but most of the time they are pretty good. (2) yes, sometimes scrums do win matches but often they don’t, and you can win without a good scrum. For example England absolutely dominated the scrum against France in the six nations last year, but lost by a record margin.
I hope he gets his chance, but I also hope Marler and Mako aren’t written off, and I also hope that Borthwick puts faith in Genge and Rodd as his 1/17 combo. Although England lack a world class loosehead our strength in depth is incredible and I almost find myself hoping that guys do stay injured just so more guys can get given a chance.