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'Gengey wasn't happy': The reason Joe Marler adopted an emergency position at England scrum training last week, and it wasn't at prop

(Photo by Dan Mullan/The RFU Collection via Getty Images)

Joe Marler has revealed he had to adopt an emergency position at England scrum training during the Autumn Nations Cup campaign. The loosehead hasn’t been capped since last March’s Six Nations win over Wales at Twickenham.

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However, ahead of Sunday’s Nations Cup final versus France, Marler has revealed he was used to add his weight in a temporary England second row in partnership with Joe Launchbury.

Apparently, Ellis Genge grew tired of not getting sufficient weight from behind from back row Jack Willis, who had been helping out at lock during scrum practice leading into last weekend’s win over Wales in Llanelli.

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Dylan Hartley and Jamie Roberts talk Autumn Nations Cup and what could make rugby a better spectacle

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Dylan Hartley and Jamie Roberts talk Autumn Nations Cup and what could make rugby a better spectacle

That led to Marler, who was standing unused on the sideline, being rushed in to replace Willis and calm Genge’s fears about what was unfolding at the England training ground set-piece.

The Marler revelation was unveiled when he made a guest appearance on the England Rugby podcast in the company of host Dylan Hartley, the retired former England captain and hooker, and his fellow loosehead Mako Vunipola, who has withdrawn from Sunday’s final versus France due to injury.

Vunipola was Eddie Jones’ first choice No1 this autumn in three of the four matches, with Genge providing bench cover, and he was due to start again versus the French before an achilles injury ruled him out. Genge will now start with Marler providing cover off the bench.

During their podcast appearance, what unfolded with the three front row forwards was a fascinating insight into the dynamics of the front row, a discussion sparked by Hartley asking the loosehead pair had they seen the scrum change during their long careers?

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MAKO VUNIPOLA: It has changed in terms of you have to got do more than set-piece. It’s not changed in you are only ever judged on set-piece. Everything is the scrum and lineout and if you can’t do that you can’t play pretty much. But what is expected of you is not just to do that, you have to get around the pitch and do your other bits as well. That is probably the biggest difference, there is more emphasis on everything else you do but nothing has changed in terms of unless you get the scrum right won’t play. 

JOE MARLER: How much the scrum has changed as well, you look back at some of those scrums ten years ago when we first started. 

MV: Do you remember when we crouch, touch, pause, engage?

JM: Oh my god, and it would be like a metre-and-a-half run up into it.

DYLAN HARTLEY: It is a lot safer now, the changes have made it a lot safer and a lot more technical whereas back in the day it was crouch, touch, hold, engage, there wasn’t even a pause there. Fly into that gap and good luck, the heaviest and biggest team wins basically. 

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JM: It was carnage.

DH: What do you love about scrummaging or is it something you have got to do? Do you love it?

JM: I love it. I love it because it is one of the few opportunities in a game that is like a controlled skill where you are one on one and eight on eight and only you and your front row and the opposition front row can affect things here rather than someone running too quick. It’s that sort of head-on head battle with the opposition. 

MV: It’s the only one really. The only one where you are going head to head to beat your opposition. 

DH: I love how you are saying it is like a closed skill effectively, but it is like a collective closed skill. Everyone looks and front row and when there were scrum pens left, right and centre all everyone talks about in comms is the front row. So just like when a lineout goes wrong, it’s the hooker, when a scrum goes wrong, it’s the front row. But can you give an insight into the collective, how you rely on everyone around you? 

JM: During the week we had scrum training and we were shy of a second row and they put, was it Jack Willis? Yeah, last week it was Tom Curry who got binned out of the second row and this week it was Jack Willis and Gengey was not happy. He was right I’m not getting enough here and I was spare and he said Marler have you got your 21s on? I went yeah and he said get behind me. So there was me and Joe Launchbury in the second row. 

DH: That’s a heavy second row.

JM: Heavy but the difference Gengey had in having someone able to push behind. What I am trying to say is the importance of having some weight, especially Sloshbucket’s weight?

DH: Confirm who Sloshbucket is, please?

MV: Don’t do it. He is going to absolutely kill you. Sloshbucket has actually got so many nicknames it’s a joke. Sloshbury.

JM: No, leave him alone, leave him alone. Leave Biscuit alone. Leave him alone. Anyway, the point I was trying make is that without weighty second rows giving us that support from behind you are pretty much null and void as a front-rower. It’s all about the collective. 

DH: Have you got a better understanding of what your second row go through? Is it a place of comfort or a place of attrition?

JM: I have a lot more respect for them now. Put it that way. 

 

 

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J
JW 30 minutes ago
Why England's defence of the realm has crumbled without Felix Jones

This piece is nothing more than the result of revisionist fancy of Northern Hemisphere rugby fans. Seeing what they want to see, helped but some surprisingly good results and a desire to get excited about doing something well.


I went back through the 6N highlights and sure enough in every English win I remembered seeing these exact holes on the inside, that are supposedly the fallout out of a Felix Jones system breaking down in the hands of some replacement. Every time the commentators mentioned England being targeted up the seam/around the ruck or whatever. Each game had a try scored on the inside of the blitz, no doubt it was a theme throughout all of their games. Will Jordan specifically says that Holland had design that move to target space he saw during their home series win.


Well I'm here to tell you they were the same holes in a Felix Jones system being built as well. This woe is now sentiment has got to stop. The game is on a high, these games have been fantastic! It is Englands attack that has seen their stocks increase this year, and no doubt that is what SB told him was the teams priority. Or it's simply science, with Englands elite players having worked towards a new player welfare and management system, as part of new partnership with the ERU, that's dictating what the players can and can't put their bodies through.


The only bit of truth in this article is that Felix is not there to work on fixing his defence. England threw away another good chance of winning in the weekend when they froze all enterprise under pressure when no longer playing attacking footy for the second half. That mindset helped (or not helped if you like) of course by all this knee jerk, red brained criticism.

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