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Saracens: How Nick Isiekwe ended 44-month wait for England recall

(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

You have to go back 44 months to find the last time that Saracens lock Nick Isiekwe was capped by England. He had just turned 20 at the time and having previously had a pair of runs off the Test bench, Eddie Jones ambitiously gambled that a first international start against the Springboks in Johannesburg was the next step for rookie forward. 

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With South Africa fighting back from a 3-24 deficit to lead 29-24 heading into the interval, Jones took the draconian step of removing Isiekwe from the action with just 36 minutes played. It was a brutally public setback where the critics didn’t hold back in their assessment.  

Take the Sportsmail coverage of that afternoon on the Highveld. Isiekwe was marked 4/10 and the accompanying comment was: “Hooked after 36 minutes by Jones – lost in the intense drama of the first half and couldn’t slow Bok ball down.”

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      That setback has taken Isiekwe nearly four years to recover from and even now his England recall is somewhat of a surprise. Just a couple of weeks ago when the original 36-strong squad was named for the Six Nations his name was nowhere to be seen. 

      He was called up some days later as injury training cover for Jonny Hill but it was only when Hill was scratched from the 29-man squad retained on Tuesday that Isiekwe became an official member of the squad.  

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      Two days later he was named in the starting XV alongside Saracens teammate Maro Itoje and he will run out at Murrayfield for his fourth ever Test cap and finally draw a line under the long wait he endured since 2018 to get back into the team. To say his London club was chuffed by his inclusion would be an understatement, head coach Joe Shaw describing it as a triumph for hard work and the level of excellence that now exists in his game. 

      “Nick has been at the club since he was 14 years old and it seemed very early when he was 19 and playing cup finals for us. I don’t think it has necessarily been his lack of work (as to why he was excluded for so long), he is extremely diligent. 

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      He is in a really tough position within the England framework with other people but he has cracked on. Last year he went and had a good year (on loan) with Northampton and he has come back to us and has grafted on, played so well and done such a lot of work behind the scenes that justifiably he has got into Eddie’s plans.

      “I don’t want to compare him to anybody else but what I see here day in day out is someone who is learning to be an excellent lineout caller, somebody who can operate a lineout extremely well. His work around the field, his collision work on both sides of the ball has come on so for a 23-year-old lad he is growing nicely. He has got an extreme appetite to get better and being surrounded by the people he has got at this club, he is able to take on things really quickly and he is developing nicely.”

      Scotland are massively confident of getting a win over England and the Test level inexperience of Isiekwe will be fastened on as a reason for further Scottish optimism, especially as the matchday weather forecast is poor. Saracens, though, are backing their soon-to-be 24-year-old player to thrive.  

      “It’s just British weather really, we play in the rain, we play in the sun. Nick has been around for a good time and played for England and he has been playing in cup finals etc so he is pretty confident whatever will get thrown at him this weekend.”

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      R
      RedWarriors 36 minutes ago
      The Springbok selection experiment is far from over

      SA won two world cups but since 1987 there have been major issues with the draw and scheduling.


      Lets look at Scotland and England. Scotland were ranked #9 immediately after RWC 2019.

      They were ranked #7 a few months after and by 2023 they were ranked #5 in the world.

      England were ranked #3 after RWC 2019 but by 2023 were #7 a full 3 ranking points behind Scotland.

      There are 4 Pools. Because World Rugby used rankings from 2019, England were ranked #1 in their pool in with Argentina and Japan and Scotland were ranked #3 in their pool in with South Africa and Ireland. The pools went as youd expect: Scotland were eliminated and England got through to a QF where they got to play Fiji and scraped through to a semi.

      At the end of that tournament England were now a full 3 ranking points ahead of Scotland. This wasn’t due to better rugby. It was entirely due to the draw.

      Now England are in #6, Scotland are in #7 and England are favourites to be #1 Pool seeds (6 pool) in 2027 and Scotland will end up as #2 seeds.

      In effect Scotland are still reeling from the draw in 2023 which was based on the rankings in 2027.

      Considering the amount of admirable effort, money etc that Scotland have put into improving this is an utterly unforgivable outcome from World Rugby.

      This isnt new Draw disasters and scheduling bias has been going on since the start.

      The ONLY reason it is being dealt with now is because NZ and SA were affected and the world could see how ridiculous it was having the QFs with opponents that should be in SFs, and having great teams like Scotland not even qualify from their Pool.


      (I don’t have beef with SA beyond their (and the Kiwis) high proportion of arrogant, brash supporters (see abuse directed at me above) and in the case of the NZ team, lack of respect for other teams.)

      35 Go to comments
      R
      RedWarriors 57 minutes ago
      The Springbok selection experiment is far from over

      Everyone agreed that the draw was absurd. NZ and SA were the most vocal in criticism before the Pool stages, but then the narrative changed after their squeeked through the QFs.

      The reason you had to play France and England was because you lost to Ireland.

      The draw helped you in that you got to play France in a QF where none of their players had knock-out winning experience. You play England first and then France, and your task becomes significantly harder. If you are also scheduled to play #5 ranked Scotland the week before France then you lose.


      I thought Ireland did rise for the NZ match. Inside a week after Scotland and with resultant fatigue and injury. NZ prepared for a year for that match including identifying a potential infringemnt in Porters scrummaging which yielded 4 penalties. The NZ scrum coach remarked that the ref spent every scrum looking at Porter and not at NZ front row. Kudos, thats clever.


      The fact we got within one score and went out attacking in their 22 shows we were right up for it. Particularly given NZ were so much better than SA in the final (except for the red).


      Hats off to SA. But the idea that SA are a match for the great NZ team of the 2010s is ludicrous. SA were not the best team in there pool in both 2029 and 2023. They are average in between world cups. They have lost in 4 out of 5 matches against one opponent. Sorry but there it is.


      (Anyone can spot a troll, using personal abuse against a person’s opinion being a pretty reliable indicator.)

      35 Go to comments
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