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Former England head coach Eddie Jones has encouraged current boss Steve Borthwick to deploy back-row Ben Earl at inside centre to help his side find a “point of difference”.
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Settling on a centre partnership has long been a problem for England, dating back well before Borthwick’s tenure. While they have persevered with Henry Slade and Ollie Lawrence, the very fact that they swapped the No.12 and No.13 jerseys during the autumn campaign suggests it is not firing on all cylinders.
Indeed, Borthwick is not averse to the idea of playing the England back-row in the centres, and experimented with the move in the closing stages of matches against Japan and the All Blacks last year. The question is whether he would fully commit to the idea from the start of a match. His former boss thinks he should.
This is in the quest to find a “point of difference” in the international game, which Jones believes Ireland, France and South Africa have done.
“Ireland have beaten power by cohesion,” he said on the Stick to Rugby podcast recently.
“France have just said ‘right, we’re going to go down the middle of the field and then we’ve got this little bloke that can pick out space on the outside and then we’ll kick it to you.’ And they’ve done that. South Africa we know kick, chase, and then play off the counterattack.
“If you’re England now, where are you going to get your point of difference? Or Wales?
“You’ve got to get a point of difference now. So if you’re Wales, it can’t be cohesion because you don’t give the players enough time.”
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When asked by David Flatman whether playing full-back Freddie Steward at inside centre “Jordie Barrett-style” would be the answer, the Australian swiftly responded: “Ben Earl.”
“He’s quicker than most of the backs,” he continued. “He is seriously quick. I reckon you need to be thinking about doing something like that.”
Though that is not a position Earl plays in frequently, Jones’ solution was for the RFU to urge Saracens to move the 27-year-old into the midfield.
“You go to Saracens, get some of the money out of the RFU pocket.”
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While this seems a radical move, Jones is not the first person to suggest that the Saracen could do a job with a No.12 on his back. Similarly, Lawrence Dallaglio added that World Cup-winning boss Clive Woodward wanted his back-row players to be comfortable in the midfield.
He said: “Clive Woodward used to say to all of us ‘I want my No.6, No.7 and No.8 to be able to play No.12 and No.13.’ And that was 20 years ago.”
With England opting for a 6-2 split on the bench in the opening two rounds of the Guinness Six Nations, therefore having less cover on the bench, this may already be a plan Borhtwick is looking to execute again.
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The one problem with that idea is that Ben Earl can’t tackle. Which is usually a good trait to have at centre.
The other, is that it’s a sh1t stupid idea.
Always amazed that supposed wise men of rugby think that positional shifts can be so easy and influencing the club to go along is just as. Yes Earls is fast but the spatial awareness to play in the centres, especially defensively, takes years to develop. It’s why Burgess never really flourished there, would have been a heck of a back row, not unlike, wait a minute… Ben Earl! Keep him at 7, let him roam and make players all over the field, read the game, use his pace. Gawd why are we even taking about this foolishness.
Ben Earl in the centre and Jack Nowell on the flank. I wonder what other f**king stupid ideas Eddie had up his sleeve from which we were reprieved?
Whoever we pick at 12 this year is just keeping BJVR’s seat warm until summer 2026.
He's said he wants to play for SA.
nah
I hope that’s not the case. We have plenty of good inside centres like Ojomoh and Atkinson, so we shouldn’t need a SA mercenary. Leave that kind of nonsense to the Scots.