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The England player singled out by Lawes as a 'brilliant example'
By Liam Heagney
Courtney Lawes has arguably given the most insightful interview of any England player or coach at France 2023. The back-rower, who skippered the team to their Pool D wins over Argentina and Japan, gave his verdict on what is making this particular squad under Steve Borthwick tick, qualifying for the quarter-finals as pool winners with a match to spare.
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England next play Samoa in their group finale this coming Saturday in Lille before heading south to Marseille for their October 15 quarter-final versus the Pool C runners-up, who are set to be Fiji provided they secure a point in their game next Sunday against Portugal to push them ahead of Australia and into second place behind Wales.
Now a veteran of four World Cups, the 34-year-old Lawes has explained the selfless approach players now have playing for England and he singled out one forward for special mention. “It’s so different apart from Steve,” he said about the current campaign where head coach Borthwick is a lone link with four years ago when the final was reached in Japan.
“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. Especially 2019 and this time in terms of a team of players, we are so much more selfless.
“We want to play, we want to go out there and put our bodies on the line for each other and then that is what I think makes the difference: when it hits the fan and you know you are under the cosh, you have got to want to get into it with each other and if you don’t you get found out pretty quickly. That is one of the biggest things to take away and it is something we have got again this time.”
Lawes suggested this trait has existed for a while now. “You definitely started talking about things like that around 2017, 2018 and then we have kind of built on from there.
“We understand and we have had a very similar leadership group now for a long time, so it makes it quite a smooth transition when new players come in and we have got a similar leadership team and we know what works and we want everyone to buy in.
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“It’s ‘we do this for each other, not for ourselves’. We hit a ruck and forego the glory so that we get the ball so that someone else can score, that kind of stuff. And obviously putting your body on the line in defence.
“They are the things we pride ourselves on as a team and it’s what we want to carry on into the future as well. Our way is the England way, doing it our way is doing it for each other.”
Asked to nominate a player as an example for repeated selfless acts for the greater good of this England team, Lawes chose tighthead Dan Cole whose sole appearance so far at the finals came in the September 9 opener where the Pumas were demolished despite the third-minute red card for Tom Curry.
“You can probably watch Dan the entire game just banging rucks, getting us quick ball, to be honest. That is an example of someone who is so selfless.
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“He is not worried about any kind of glory. He is doing his job, he wants to be on the pitch, wants to scrum well, he wants to maul well and he wants to make sure our breakdown is as quick as it possibly can be and then in defence, he is going to bang people.
“He is a brilliant example of somebody who is just going to do his part in the cog; he is going to be that one cog in the chain that leads to a try or a good win over Argentina and we have got plenty of players like that.”
Scrum coach Tom Harrison attested to the dedication of Cole in doing the unseen work. “His target is to hit more (breakdowns) than he has the week before. He knows what his role in the team is and that goes for every player, understanding where can you add value to the team, what is your role.
“A try gets scored, brilliant. It might be your name on the scoresheet but it’s the same amount of points whoever scores it. He understands what his role is.”
