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Courtney Lawes: 'It wasn't nice... but it paid off in the end'
By Liam Heagney
Courtney Lawes was like a boxer post-training on Monday at the England training facility in Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, a rolled towel around his neck while he rolled with verbal punches from the media to tee up his team’s Rugby World Cup campaign.
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Only the fanatics would have given the English hope in hell in August on the back of three defeats in four Summer Nations Series matches, two campaign-ending injuries for two of their chosen 33, and red cards and suspensions for two more.
That calamity carried over into the opening salvo in Marseille on September 9, the naughty Tom Curry exiled less than three minutes into his team’s tournament opener.
And yet here was Lawes 23 days later, sitting in northern French coastal sunshine and shooting the breeze regarding a progress that qualified England with a game to spare for the quarter-finals and now has them believing that rugby is potentially coming home 20 years after they last conquered the world.
He didn’t specifically say England can definitely win this World Cup. Having “a good shot at that cup at the end of it” was as inspiring as it got in that sense. But it’s October, September has been safely negotiated with three pool wins and the knockout stage road ahead is alive with possibilities once next Saturday’s group game versus Samoa in Lille is taken care of.
How has it come to this just weeks after the Steve Borthwick blueprint was widely ridiculed as his country’s worst-ever preparation for the tournament? Lawes himself consecutively started three of those warm-up four matches, staying the course against Wales, Ireland and Fiji for all but six minutes in Dublin.
The since-revealed secret, of course, was that England were purposely over-flogging themselves on the training ground, not specifically gearing up to be at their energetic best on those August Saturdays. Performance suffered but Lawes and co refused to blink despite the acrimonious outside noise.
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“I wouldn’t say it was worrying because we had done all the hard yakka,” he reckoned, sharing his views from a first-floor deck at the Hauts-de-France facility that has been a home from home for England since they first trained there on September 1. “To be honest we went into most of those games pretty tired but we had put in a really good foundation, we had worked really hard in pre-season.
“We knew that and we knew that it would come right, it would start to click for us. We said it after every game, every loss, that we were going to do everything we could to make sure when the World Cup kicks off we’re firing and we did that and we just stuck to it, to be honest. We never gave up and we have given ourselves a really good shot to tip on and do something really great.”
What was the ordeal like, though, having to play Test match rugby with energy levels drained by midweek capers such as having a full-on 15-versus-15 training ground match on the Tuesday before the Ireland defeat?
“It’s tough. You understand it’s not the World Cup so we were still training, preparing for the World Cup in those games. The S&C team were trying to understand how far they could push the boys to still get them to a certain place per the game.
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“It was all a bit of trying to find the right balance… because essentially it was pre-season. They were warm-up games, not World Cup games. But yeah, it was tough and it wasn’t nice having slightly heavy legs at the start of the games, but you understand why you are doing it and it paid off in the end so fair play.”
Fair play, indeed. Along the way, England have stuck to their blunt tactics and that’s an approach which Lawes, skipper versus Argentina and Japan while Owen Farrell was suspended, is not for turning on. “I like that it is now really obvious every team’s DNA and what they are trying to do,” he said, reflecting on the past four weekends of action across the pools in France.
“All the top teams have got a really different kind of genetics as a team, team strategy and stuff like that, how when they play each other how that is going to play off. That is really good for us as players to see and be a part of and it’s really good for the fanbase to see as a spectacle as well.
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“You know, the Ireland-South Africa game, stuff like that, France-New Zealand first night of the World Cup. Things like that are huge for the game and, like I said, every team has got a little bit different strategy, DNA, a different way of playing and that is really good to see.”
So what is the England DNA? “We’re a really strong defensive team. That is probably our backbone; we have conceded one try in the last three games, so that is great, and obviously an aerial kicking team. We are very good at getting the ball back and we’re looking to build attack off that. Hopefully, by the time we get a bit later on in the tournament, that is where we want to be and show people a bit of a different side to us.”
The criticism has continued along the way, however, with England even booed loudly by their own fans in Nice after one feeble kick too many riled them versus the Japanese. “There is not a lot of patience,” he suggested about the ways of the modern world where perfection is immediately demanded.
“New coaching team, first time we had everyone together, completely new team strategy and foundation that we had to build. Stuff like that does take time and we’re fast-tracking as quickly as we can. This weekend is another opportunity to go out there and get better,” he said, going on to share his perspective on social media and the England team.
“Even the young lads understand nowadays social media is what it is. It can be so negative and we are always a team that is always not interested in what other people are saying outside of our group. We knew what we were here to do and what we wanted to achieve. Because we were so focused on that we said there is going to be people saying a lot of different stuff, let them do what they want to do but we’re going to get to work and I guess prove them wrong in a lot of ways.
“We don’t tell anybody what they can and can’t do after a game. It’s up to you and as a young player, you have got to learn to navigate social media and understand what is feedback and what is just people being people on social media now. You have got to be able to roll with the punches. You can’t just say, ‘Don’t look at it, lads’ because it’s everywhere. You have got to learn to deal with it in your own way however that is and everyone is a bit different.”
Lawes certainly is different in what is the 34-year-old’s fourth World Cup. He finds it hard to compare tournaments. “It’s so different apart from Steve. 2011, 2015 and 2019, the coaching team and actually the main team is so different, so it’s quite hard to compare and contrast and know what you do differently because the team was so different.”
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Another difference is the family experience this time around. “It’s the first time they really understand because the last World Cup was Japan, so we didn’t get any kids out to that and the one before that (England 2015) my eldest was only about one. They have been all out to watch Argentina and the watch the Japan games, so that’s really quite special for me. To be part of good stadiums as well, everyone loves rugby in France, it’s such a good experience for them.”
Do they know specifically what Dad is trying to do in a match? “Probably not. They know if you make a good carry or if you make a good tackle. My eldest boy loves tackling so he will know what is going on there but he wouldn’t have a clue what is happening at breakdowns. No idea.”
One perspective on England is that they have hidden themselves away from the World Cup, hunkering down in the most English of French towns. The Lawes verdict, though, is that it has the perfect place to plot for October glory. “Le Touquet has been amazing,” he insisted.
“Japan was really good as well. I really enjoyed Japan but this town is actually really, really nice to be a part of. They have made all of us so welcome and there is so much to do, like so many boys playing loads of padel, playing golf, I was playing tennis with David Ribbans on Sunday. We have been able to be able to do loads of really cool stuff.
“There is a crepe place just up the road that is closed now, everyone is a bit gutted the next few weeks. We have been hammering that, and there is the beach and all that stuff. This town has honestly made the World Cup really quite special for us and we have had a really good time here. It has been a really cool spot to come and have as a base camp. The games on top of that, starting off beating Argentina with 14 men was special for us and being able to carry on, be a bit better every game.”
That process will continue in Lille with England set to exit their seaside base on Thursday to head north for their Saturday clash with Samoa and they will then fly south on Sunday for a week in Marseille before their October 15 quarter-final versus the Pool C runner-up. That opposition is currently Australia but is expected to be Fiji, who need just a point more to clinch qualification.
“It’s about us taking steps forward to be the team we want to be because it’s great we are through to the quarter-finals, but that is not the place we want to be. We came here to be the best team we can be and have a good shot at that cup at the end of it. We know it is great to get to the quarter-final. It’s an objective we wanted to achieve but it’s not why we came here. It’s another stepping stone on the path to getting where we want to get to.
“We will leave no stone unturned to get as far as we can in this competition and to push ourselves to win that cup at the end of it. We are going to do everything we can. That’s all we can do and hopefully we can bring the nation along with us.”
