Jeremy Guscott column: It’s time for this England backline to really produce
I was never more excited than to play in the Five Nations Championship. The atmosphere will be bubbling at a Murrayfield rammed full of Scottish supporters willing their team to stick it to the English. They will be wild for that long-awaited victory, and Scotland will feed off that.
It’s up to England to keep that crowd quiet.
Most of the rumours about Eddie Jones seem to be materialising. There has been some mention that Danny Care is his sort of player – a high tempo scrum-half, who looks for space and attacks it. Consequently, I thought Care would be starting against Scotland, but accuracy of kicking has to be high on the England agenda, and Ben Youngs fits that criteria better.
Harlequins move the ball through Care more than they kick-and-compete, and, because I cannot see where this England backline will make the running gains necessary off phase ball, it’s likely that Youngs will nip ahead of him.
So, if England play a set-piece, territory-based game against the Scots it will be Youngs to start and Care who comes off the bench as an impact player. It is a consistent call in many ways, because if Joseph keeps his place in the team on the basis of England performances last season, then the same should apply to Youngs, who was outstanding against France.
Having praised Ford’s handling and kicking ability in terms of his accuracy and variety, including kick-passes, Jones will go for him at 10 – and used smartly he will go well. The only question then is whether he or Owen Farrell, at inside-centre, does the goal-kicking. Given Farrell’s pedigree as an international marksman you would start with him.
I’m surprised that Eliot Daly has not been given a place on the bench given what he has shown this season.
Joseph will be looking to build on what he did last season, and to make a difference in the same way – and boy did he take his opportunity. Yet, this looks like Daly’s season in the same way that it was Joseph’s last year, but as the man in possession the Bath 13 has been given a great opportunity to nail it down.
In the back three Jack Nowell has been playing well for Exeter, although his teammates are not always sure where he’s running. That’s okay if he doesn’t get isolated, but at Test level there is a greater danger of being picked off. That said, he had a cracking game on the wing against Scotland last season.
Anthony Watson is improving game on game, and while neither of the English wings are renowned for their work off first phase ball, they have that ability to score tries from nowhere. On the debit side both of them were poor against Ireland’s aerial attack last tournament, but if they’ve worked on that then everything else about them is right up there.
Mike Brown was another who went well against Scotland last season with the full-back making good yardage. He’s under pressure from Alex Goode, who is having a wonderful season, but Brown showed last year he knows how to back up one good tournament with another. I’d give him 7.5 out of 10 for his consistency and effectiveness last time, and a 9 for the season before that.
During the last two years there’s been quite a lot of movement at 9 and 10, but now is the time for a coach to stick by them until it’s impossible not to. It is very difficult to read the players around you if they are constantly changing.
England can take encouragement from last year’s game against Scotland, although when Mark Bennett scored after they muscled their way back into the contest at Twickenham it showed how hard it could be this time.
This is not the best balanced England backline because although there is subtlety and pace there is no bludgeon or heft. If Scotland have Tommy Seymour, Sean Lamont or Sean Maitland coming up the middle they will have a size advantage against England’s midfield.
My thought is that England will not go much from inside their own half – but you never know with Eddie Jones. He’s canny.
On my visits to Murrayfield as a player the England forwards were powerful, abrasive and usually had the edge, and the backs could strike – and although this backline can do the same the forward power is less certain. That’s why the smartest way to play is kick-chase at tempo and use pressure defence to force errors. It’s likely that England will do that with a rush on the inside and then a push out towards the touchline, rather than use a hard blitz.
Farrell is used to playing at fly-half and pushing up from there, but at inside-centre he cannot afford to create a dog-leg by getting ahead of Ford inside him or Joseph on the outside. Farrell will want confrontation, but he has to be careful because sometimes he can go too high – and although you cannot see him being run-over, he can’t afford to get his timing wrong.
Greig Laidlaw is a proud Scot, but no prouder than Brown or Joseph are to pull on the England jersey. Laidlaw has said he’s still hurting from the World Cup memory of the narrow quarter-final loss to Australia. If I’m in the Scottish camp I’d be expecting to win against England on Saturday, and Vern Cotter has been coaching them for long enough to see how he can get a winning performance out of his squad, especially at home.
Scotland could kick and play a territory game, not taking too many risks – but I’m not sure it’s their way. Also, I suspect the Scots will not be overly worried up front because the England pack has gone backwards in an area where they were dominant last year.
In the backs, even though it seems likely that they will be without Bennett they have a ready-made replacement in Saracens centre Duncan Taylor. He’s strong and efficient with good basics. With his wing pedigree he can also take a gap if he is given room.
The Scots will not want any slow starts, and if they get going early it will be a question of whether the England backs can stand up, hold on, and deal with the intense scrutiny and pressure before applying some of their own.
