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Why Proudfoot's not trying to turn England pack into Boks 2.0

By PA
Alex Dombrandt /PA

Matt Proudfoot will send England’s forwards in search of their “own soul” to rebuild their pack dominance.

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Head coach Eddie Jones has challenged England’s pack to become feared around the world again, after a dismal fifth-place finish at the Six Nations.

And forwards coach Proudfoot believes the best way to realise those aims is by allowing the England players to be comfortable in their own skin.

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Proudfoot helped steer South Africa to World Cup 2019 glory as assistant coach, but insisted his coaching methods with the Springboks cannot be directly transferred to the England set-up.

Asked if his exploits with South Africa can help underpin his England tenure, Proudfoot replied: “No, I think England have their own strengths, their own soul, I would say, as a pack.

“And it’s about aligning that to where the team’s goal is.

“I think the two environments are very different.

“So I think it’s about how we take these players and create an ideal about where they want to go, and create an environment that they can develop in.

“It wouldn’t be right trying to impose different lessons and styles on England’s pack, I think it won’t work.”

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England will host Canada at Twickenham on Saturday, boasting another youthful team in the absence of 12 British and Irish Lions tourists.

England Rugby Training - Twickenham Stadium - Friday July 9th

Boss Jones handed out 12 debuts last weekend in the 43-29 win over the USA, with the most new faces on show in one match since 1947.

Alex Dombrandt will head a group of four more new caps this weekend, with the Harlequins number eight in fine form and an exciting addition to the line-up.

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Proudfoot believes England’s young guns have a fine chance to lay down a marker for long-term selection.

England Rugby Training - Twickenham Stadium - Friday July 9th

“I’m excited about all of them, there’s good players there with a lot of potential,” said Proudfoot.

“It’s now up to our environment to get them to learn, to be comfortable, to inject their personalities into the game.

“In a pack of forwards that’s what’s important, you take the best of their personalities and create an environment where they can do that and drive them forward.

“With the pack it’s always an evolution. We were always in the process of getting better, changing and improving.

“I liked the aggression at scrum time, I thought our maul needed a bit more bite so we’ll look to install that this week.

England Rugby Training - Twickenham Stadium - Friday July 9th
Eddie Jones and John Mitchell /PA

“And defensively I’d like us to step up to who England are defensively, so I think it was a good start, and let’s take a step forward this Saturday.”

Josh McNally was ruled out of action due to a shoulder problem suffered in training, with fellow lock Ted Hill picking up an ankle issue.

Proudfoot hailed both forwards for their hard graft.

“It has been a long season and injuries happen,” said Proudfoot.

“It’s part of the game, we try to mitigate as much as we can, limit the amount of contact that we do.

“But you can get hurt stepping out of the shower. That’s just the way rugby is.

“I feel sorry for the guys that have worked so hard, both of them have worked incredibly, incredibly hard.”

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J
JW 46 minutes ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Where? I remember saying "unders"? The LNR was formed by the FFR, if I said that in a way that meant the 'pro' side of the game didn't have an equal representation/say as the 'amateur' side (FFR remit) that was not my intent.


But also, as it is the governing body, it also has more responsibility. As long as WR looks at FFR as the running body for rugby in France, that 'power' will remain. If the LNR refuses to govern their clubs use of players to enable a request by FFR (from WR) to ensure it's players are able to compete in International rugby takes place they will simply remove their participation. If the players complain to the France's body, either of their health and safety concerns (through playing too many 'minutes' etc) or that they are not allowed to be part in matches of national interest, my understanding is action can be taken against the LNR like it could be any other body/business. I see where you're coming from now re EPCR and the shake up they gave it, yes, that wasn't meant to be a separate statement to say that FFR can threaten them with EPCR expulsion by itself, simply that it would be a strong repercussion for those teams to be removed (no one would want them after the above).


You keep bringing up these other things I cannot understand why. Again, do you think if the LNR were not acting responsibly they would be able to get away with whatever they want (the attitude of these posters saying "they pay the players")? You may deem what theyre doing currently as being irresponsible but most do not. Countries like New Zealand have not even complained about it because they've never had it different, never got things like windfall TV contracts from France, so they can't complain because theyre not missing out on anything. Sure, if the French kept doing things like withholding million dollar game payments, or causing millions of dollars of devaluation in rights, they these things I'm outlining would be taking place. That's not the case currently however, no one here really cares what the French do. It's upto them to sort themselves out if they're not happy. Now, that said, if they did make it obvious to World Rugby that they were never going to send the French side away (like they possibly did stating their intent to exclude 20 targeted players) in July, well then they would simply be given XV fixtures against tier 2 sides during that window and the FFR would need to do things like the 50/50 revenue split to get big teams visiting in Nov.

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