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Will Carling begs England not to make same old mistake with Cadan Murley
By Chris Jones
Will Carling, the former England captain, is urging Steve Borthwick not to repeat the mistakes of the past by dropping Cadan Murley after the Harlequins wing’s defensive mistakes in the 27-22 defeat by Ireland in Dublin.
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Murley twice opted to try to carry the ball out of England’s in-goal area, handing Ireland scoring opportunities. He received a lot of flak on social media despite scoring a try on his debut, setting up Tom Curry for his score, and making a try-saving tackle.
The Harlequins wing is in danger of suffering the same fate that Mathew Tait endured on his debut in 2005, when the Newcastle centre was given a torrid time by Wales’s Gavin Henson. He was taken off early in Cardiff and then dropped.
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Carling believes that if Murley’s form and talent were good enough to start against Ireland, then he should be in the starting XV to take on France at Allianz Stadium on Saturday. Carling, who won 72 caps and led his country in 59 Tests, told RugbyPass: “That had an impact on Mathew Tait’s career and the fact is, test rugby is different compared to the Premiership and if you believe someone was good enough to be picked to make their debut you give them more than one go, without doubt. You have to and I presume he will be picked and I very much hope he is.
“Lots of people didn’t see the fact that he touched the first high kick and so he had to play the ball. Harlequins do it and he tried to run it out and in the big scheme of things it wasn’t the right decision. But, so what, he got it wrong; however, he got a lot of things right in the match, including taking his try well, making a try-saving tackle and creating the space to help Tom Curry score a try. If you know rugby, then you saw lots of mistakes (by England) but his was out in the open. There were far more important mistakes by more experienced players and this guy was on his debut.
“Test rugby is that much quicker and instead of having a second (to make a decision) you have half a second. It does take time to get used to it for any player and my hope is that if you genuinely believe he had the talent for one game the key is to nurture that and his confidence because that is what’s needed in test rugby. You could pick out some of the best players and there would have been mistakes when they first experienced test rugby.
“When you look at the vast majority of comments on social media you naturally remember the negative ones and that’s human nature – we become fixated on them. That is why I put out a tweet saying I thought Cadan had, overall, a good debut with positive bits.”
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For those throwing the mud, the truth is @cadan_murley scored a try, assisted another & made a try saving tackle, alongside other positive additions to Englands performance. He made a couple of mistakes, who doesn’t on their debut!! But overall, he should be proud, I hope he is
— Will Carling (@willcarling) February 1, 2025
Carling, who has launched a podcast “Who Gives A Ruck” on Spotify with fellow greats Dean Richards and Jonathan Davies, wants to see strong leadership from Borthwick, the head coach, and does not accept that highlighting your team has fewer caps than the opposition – as mentioned by Borthwick before the Ireland game – is a plausible excuse.
He added: “There was no excuse last season when we beat Ireland (23-22) at Twickenham and so you can’t use that this year. England overcame (the disparity in caps) last time and so it is possible, otherwise, in international sport the most experienced team would always win!
“I am not a fan of excuses and let’s just be honest, one of the toughest things about being the No.1 [head coach] is having the strength of conviction rather than going with the outcry and what path the media is going down. If you are watching players in training then that may not transfer into the first couple of tests but you know it’s there. That is the key and what we need to see.
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“Now, we face France and Antoine Dupont who is exceptional and no one will be giving England a chance. Ireland turned up last year and no one gave us a chance and we need to stand up and do that consistently. France have that blend of power and pace with that young lad at scrum half linking the two who is the best in the world. I thought Ollie Lawrence did well in Ireland and as a team we need confidence and belief. If we do that then we will see the talent that is in the England team. What we need is that foundation of confidence.”
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What annoyed me with Murley was the schoolboy errors of not letting a fast moving ball roll dead and then not touching down the second ball after it crossed the try line. These basics should be second nature to an international rugby player. Would New Zealand pick a winger again if he did that? No. What would the NZ public be saying about his debut? Probably something like "come back when you've grasped the basics of the game." They don't tolerate mistakes like that, they are consistantly the one of the best in the world because they have very high standards and being an All Black is to be an elite player. England rugby says, aww, look at his sad little face, give him another go.
English Rugby isn't helped by Will Carling putting in a good word for a Quins player. It's external noise, it not helpful. The harlequins coaching team should be embarrassed that a player they train couldn't deal with mickey mouse basics like that. Of course they are keeping their heads down letting Borthwick take the flak.
English Rugby just doesn't have its sht together and it hardly ever does. Why we (the English supporters) expect them to do well is beyond me. We are the worst run, mostly badly organised bunch of clowns in rugby and our mind-boggling go to "fix" is to sack the coach, usually ten months out from a rugby world cup. Why do England fans keep coming back for more of this drivel? They are incompetent. Why waste our life away watching this pish that never changes? I know why, it's because we love of the game, but common sense says if something is winding you up then cut it out of your life. You don't need it. This is where the TV shop window shows people what not to buy.
No one is reading all this bro. U seem a little angry with life, need anyone to chat to? I'm here if u need me as always.
Lots of love,
Your one and only xxx
"Lots of people didn’t see the fact that he touched the first high kick and so he had to play the ball"
I find it weird how much has been made of this. He shouldn't have touched the ball! That was a mistake! it doesn't absolve him of blame.
I do agree though that he wasn't that bad.
Unfortunately Murley is injured so won't be able to get straight back on it. Hopefully he will be available later in the tournament.
Well we wouldn't want to drop him because, well, just look at his sad little face. Someone give him and hug, some hot milk and cookies and get him back in the England team as soon as possible.
Meanwhile in New Zealand, the player, the public and the coaches know that if a player makes those sorts of mistakes, he has not met the elite standards required to be an All Black. When a new All Black player runs onto the pitch the commentator will tell you that he's the (for example) 600th player to be an All Black and the 300th to wear the 11 Jersey. It's a big deal to the country, its why they are consistantly the best over 100+ years.
England... well its all about the piss up after the game. Lets have a football match with the calcutta Cup. How we win anything with that culture is beyond me.
Murley did touch that ball when trying to field it so couldn't let it go dead.
However he did have a pretty sketchy debut, he deserves another chance but it's a brave call to give him that chance in against the best team in the tournament when you've lost your first game and everyone in the country is calling for you to be sacked.
How good to hear the thoughts of an experienced ex england captain, well said Will