Jeremy Guscott: Manu Tuilagi’s injury means it’s all in the balance in midfield

International rugby is about having options and balance in your squad, and Eddie Jones is the same as any other coach in that respect. Having a big, direct, powerful inside-centre is one of those favoured options, especially when it comes to balancing out a smaller fly-half – and in recent years the pattern has been to have a big 12, and also a fairly big 13 who is the faster of the two centres.
In teams that have won the World Cup since 1999 there are not too many small inside-centres – in fact, with Daniel Herbert (Australia 1999), Will Greenwood (England 2003), François Steyn (South Africa 2007) and Ma’a Nonu (New Zealand 2011 and 2015) they were all big units.
The thing about having a 17stone ball-carrier at inside-centre is that because he’s faster than most back row forwards, and about the same size, he can do damage to the opposition midfield while at the same time giving his forward carriers a break.
An alternative if you don’t have someone who fits that description at 12 is to bring a big winger, like George North or Matt Banahan, up the middle to do a similar job.
However, having a powerhouse 12 is a simpler template, and is part of the old-fashioned view that bigger is better. That’s why if Manu Tuilagi was fit, and back to where he was, he’d be straight in.
At the moment the England scenario at 10-12 of George Ford and Owen Farrell was pretty well forced on Jones by form and circumstance when Luther Burrell was taken off in the first Test of the Australia tour. The question many England fans will be asking is, why can’t it continue after playing a major role in whitewashing the Wallabies?
In my view the balance doesn’t quite synchronise, even though they have been unbeaten as a pairing. Sure, Ford and Farrell have an understanding, but if England had a bigger, faster centre with a better pass you would think he’d be selected.
One advantage of having Farrell as a second playmaker at inside-centre is that if he or Ford were injured there would be a similar replacement in Henry Slade, right. The Exeter back is not quite as hard in defence as Farrell who, at 6ft 1in and 15st, is really strong.
Farrell is not as quick, ideally, as you would want at inside-centre, but what you can say about him is that his game has improved each year at Test level. He will try to take the gap, or put someone else through it, and his passing and touches have risen sharply.
That’s a sign of someone learning, and gaining experience. For Farrell to have survived and not looked out of place at 12 is testament to his abilities. Although he is currently out with a back injury I cannot see Jones changing the Ford-Farrell axis at 10-12 this autumn unless someone has a sensational season – and so far I haven’t seen any Premiership inside-centre make an unbelievable case.
Having been named in the EPS on Friday, Ollie Devoto has been given his opportunity. Jones sees something in Devoto that I haven’t seen yet. I can recall that two years ago he scored two tries for Bath against Exeter – one of them with a big sidestep – but both were made by the X-factor of Ford and Kyle Eastmond.
However, playing at Exeter alongside players with the skills of Gareth Steenson and Slade, means that if he’s going to make an impression he’s got to bring real quality, too. Whether it is the hard running and sidestepping of Nonu, or Jamie Roberts-style bosh, Devoto is neither one thing nor the other at the moment, but this season he has to show why he has attracted Jones’ attention.
He’s just 23, and had good times with the England U20s, but he wasn’t a Bath regular despite 85 Premiership appearances – and now he has to make the big step. At the moment, despite having a similar build to Greenwood – who was world class – they are miles apart.
At the moment the most likely inside-centre call-up to the Test 23 is Worcester‘s Ben Te’o. There is no doubt that he would have played in the tour first Test against Australia if he’d been fit, but for him to stand out he’s gone to the wrong club. To catch the eye you’ve got to be in a top-four team, or maybe top six, so that you get enough ball to show what you can do.
It would be odd for Jones to pick him and then not use him, and he knows that having played in the NRL, Te’o’s passing will be superb. Tuilagi is the most destructive centre England have ever had, but when you look at the passing dimension that Te’o brings you can see why Jones wants to use him.
However, Te’o has to show quickly that he has a grasp of the Union game, and that he’s taken to it in a similar way to League guys like Israel Folau and Jason Robinson. He’s still got a sense of Union from when he played it as a youngster. He would add a physical threat in the way that Tuilagi and Luther Burrell have – but what they have not been able to do is link, and if Te’o can do that with Jonathan Joseph or Elliot Daly, it could be devastating.
The problem Te’o has is that time is not his friend. There are only 35 games until the World Cup, and there are very few people who can drop into a side after a handful of games and have coaches say: “That’s our man.”
Banahan is a very good winger, but if he was a centre he would have played there for most of his career. He’s always filled in there for Bath when he’s had to, and ‘Banners’ will play anywhere for England – but he is not a long-term option.
Among the other candidates, Eastmond is a wonderful rugby player, but he needs the perfect storm to be accepted at Test level. That happened in 2014-15, and if he produces the same form at Wasps then he will get back in – but it is only consistency that will earn him another opportunity.
Of the youngsters, Harry Mallinder could be an inside-centre contender for 2019 if he gets his head together. Certainly he has the raw material, and, although his passing, kicking, and game management needs improvement, that will come with experience.
He has the physical heft, as well as decent pace and footwork.  Which brings us back to Farrell at 12, and his combination with Ford.
Should that partnership start the autumn series my bet is that it will come under the toughest scrutiny against Argentina, whose skill and footwork in midfield will really test them. The South Africans will be very direct and challenge their defence, while the Australians know them very well by now and should have hatched a plan.
It’s still all in the balance at inside-centre.