Nick Cain: Matt Kvesic must play if he’s going to be special K

Matt Kvesic’s early departure from the England squad to play Australia highlights the thorny problem of how far a head coach backs his judgement when he has identified a young player of Test ability.
In the case of Michael Hooper (almost 22), the young Wallaby openside, and Sam Cane (21), his All Black counterpart, the faith their coaches have in them is obvious. Hooper has 23 caps and Cane, who played against Kvesic in the 2011 Junior World Championship final – and was no more impressive – has 13.
When Kvesic’s step up to the full international arena came on England’s summer tour of Argentina he seized his chance. Stuart Lancaster was impressed not only by his model professionalism, but also by his physical maturity in terms of strength over the ball and in clearing at the breakdown. On top of that his impact in the tackle and as a carrier was top notch.
Lancaster’s assessment of Kvesic has clearly been affected by his move over the summer from Worcester to a Gloucester side which has one of the weakest front fives in the Premiership.
With Gloucester’s set piece under constant pressure Kvesic has been forced to play off the back foot and, along with the rest of their back row, he has not had the impact he wanted.
Kvesic has paid the price, with Chris Robshaw reinstated by Lancaster this week as England openside and captain, even though his form has also been patchy. Much has been made of the committed Harlequins effort at Clermont last weekend, and without doubt it was a significant improvement on their lacklustre home effort against the Scarlets.
However, although Robshaw was as stalwart and industrious as ever, he is still a more natural blindside than openside. He also led a Harlequins team which, while it troubled Clermont at times, never truly threatened to scupper the French side’s monumental home record.
It is also worth noting that the most eye-catching performance from a Harlequins back rower came from Joe Trayfoot, who came off the bench in the final quarter and barnstormed around the Stade Marcel Michelin, smashing his way over the gain-line continuously. Like Kvesic, Trayfoot is one to watch.
Moving on to this week’s action it was ironic that on Friday night Kvesic gave a performance in the Bath v Gloucester derby which will have made Lancaster pause for thought.
Despite the Gloucester front row being in all sorts of bother for the full 80, Kvesic was like a limpet over the ball, and he finished honours even with Bath’s Springbok openside, François Louw, despite the South African having the advantage of being on the front foot for most of the match.
As Warren Gatland said in his interview in The Rugby Paper last weekend, it is important to back young players and blood them at Test level despite the realisation that they will cause you some pain as they negotiate the learning curve.
My hunch is that Kvesic will cause Lancaster less hurt them most, and that is why it is disappointing that he is not even on the bench against Australia, despite the England boss having eight places to juggle with.
Pat Sanderson, the former Sale, Harlequins, Worcester and England openside, suggested on ‘The Rugby Club’ this week that Lancaster had made a strategic error in not backing Kvesic as his starting No.7 for the autumn series.
Sanderson’s argument is that with only two years to go until the World Cup, if Lancaster believes Kvesic will be his No.7 in that tournament, he has to pick him now. Having captained Worcester when Kvesic was in their academy, Sanderson has an inside track on the 21-year-old.
He is convinced that Kvesic is a Test match animal, one of those who get better as the stakes get higher. You are also left wondering whether England have a tried and tested mentoring system in place, whereby a young prospect like Kvesic is able to turn to the likes of Sanderson and England and Lions great, Peter Winterbottom, for advice.
In the same way that Lancaster has backed other young players, notably Joe Launchbury and Owen Farrell, Sanderson believes that the more Test exposure Kvesic gets now the better he will be in 2015.
It is a persuasive argument.