Jeff Probyn column: Lack of quality tightheads is major concern for Eddie Jones

Last Sunday I was the guest on Talksport’s Full Contact show with Brian Moore where we discussed the latest round of matches from the Premiership and Pro12. Saracens versus Leicester was one of the games that was of particular interest as it contained quite a few of the players who will be included in the Elite Player Squad that Eddie Jones is set to announce this week.
Sadly for Leicester, it was a bit of a drubbing with three penalty tries awarded against them as they struggled to contain the power of Saracens’ forward drive at the lineout and scrum.
Leicester’s director of rugby, Richard Cockerill, will not take comfort in the knowledge that his pack is unlikely to suffer such a humiliation again, even against Saracens, but he will be worried about the collective ineptitude of his players.
The big worry for England fans, as well as Leicester fans, is the form of Dan Cole who is the No.1 choice tighthead for club and country but, for whatever reason, is not performing at his usual high standard.
Why should England fans be worried? Well, one thing that surprised me when looking at possible replacements should Cole not return to his destructive best, was the fact that of the starting Premiership tighthead props, only four were England-qualified players (EQPs).
Despite the £2million paid by the RFU to the Premiership to ensure that matchday squads (23 players) contain a certain number of EQPs (14 players), it is not possible for the RFU to specify what positions those players will play, and therein lies the rub.
A rugby team is dependent on all the players that take the field during a game, whether that is 15 or 23 – but there are certain specialised positions that need an expert for the team to succeed.
One of the most specialised of all is tighthead prop, which explains why they are among the highest paid in the professional game. The unique skills required to survive, let alone prosper, as a tighthead are not something that can be learned overnight; in fact I would say that you learn something new with each game you play.
For that reason, it is important that anyone who has the skill and desire to play for their country in that position, should play as many games as they can to gain the cumulative knowledge and experience necessary. It’s not just tighthead prop; all the specialist positions, loosehead, hooker, scrum-half and fly-half are just as dependent on game time to improve game management and skills.
These are the key positions in every team and control how a game is played, so it should be a matter of extreme importance to the RFU that any agreements or funding relating to EQP has an element as to time played and position of players within the matchday squad to try to ensure that specialist players are gaining the right levels of experience.
The thing is, that even with experience, not all players are capable of making the step up to international level; in fact, most of the EQPs playing in the Premiership, despite some being exceptional club players, will never be good enough to make that step.
England are blessed with a number of star quality young players in the likes of Launchbury, Lawes, Kruis, Itoje, Kvesic, Fraser, etc.. But they do not play in the specialist positions that require game time experience, although more game time would also benefit their progress.
With so many foreign players taking the starting spot in specialist positions at a majority of the Premiership clubs it stifles the opportunity for young players who have grown up in the English system.
What seems to be the normal response by clubs for any playing problems now is to bring in either ex-internationals or other foreign players as an instant fix. The unfortunate consequence of this is that young EQPs are pushed to the bench.
Worse still, the foreign players who haven’t been capped at home will eventually gain residential qualifications that allows them to compete for places in the England squad.
This leads to the unedifying situation of seeing players who have failed to reach the standards required by their home nations in the Southern Hemisphere being selected for England.
To see how damaging clubs buying too many foreign players is on the national team, we only have to look across the channel where French international rugby has declined at a quicker pace mainly because the French Federation (FFR) can’t afford to pay the clubs the equivalent of a EQP scheme. As flawed as the EQP scheme is, it has slowed the inevitable decline that having too many foreign players in key specialist positions in our Premiership would have on the England team.
*Trust the Irish to do the unthinkable, Andy Farrell was always going to find another coaching job at the highest level given his experience and ability – but to move almost seamlessly from England across the Irish Sea so quickly will add to Eddie Jones’ pain.
Despite the fact that Farrell doesn’t officially start until after the Six Nations, you can bet your life that he will be passing some detailed information about the players and tactics used by England during his time as one of Stuart Lancaster‘s coaches.
That gives Jones just seven weeks to come up with a completely new game plan in attack and defence before England face Ireland at Twickenham.