Ben Earl has revealed that speed will be at the heart of England’s quest to win the Guinness Six Nations title on ‘Super Saturday’.
Head coach Steve Borthwick has named three specialist openside flankers in his back row for the showdown with Wales in Cardiff, giving starts to Tom Curry, Ben Curry and Earl.
There is also the prospect of a trio of playmakers combining in the closing stages with George Ford supplying bench cover for Fin Smith and Marcus Smith, while wing Tommy Freeman has been moved to outside centre.
“The thing you are seeing around the park is speed wins,” said Earl, who shifts from flanker to number eight for the Principality Stadium clash.
“France is the classic case – (Louis) Bielle-Biarrey is the quickest person I have seen play the game and every time he gets the ball he can make something happen.
“Speed seems to be more of a priority to some teams than others but for us, we are talking a lot about moving the ball, being aggressive, outworking teams. Our players buy into that.”
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With only one specialist centre present in Fraser Dingwall and England opting for a six-two split between forwards and backs on the bench, Earl is on standby to fill in at 12 in the event of injury.
It is a role he has undertaken on multiple occasions and one that was performed with aplomb by Oscar Jegou last Saturday when the replacement France flanker played 34 minutes in the midfield against Ireland.
“It is not something you overthink. It’s just rugby at the end of the day. Literally half the stuff I do is basically as a 12 anyway,” Earl said.
“We are talking about back rows defending on the edge of the line anyway, running strike plays, being involved a bit wider in our attack. It is all pretty complementary.
“You saw Jegou come on and he was tremendous. The crossover is crazy between a centre and a back rower. You just go and play rugby and see what happens.”
In with a shot of the title
England need to register a bonus-point victory in the penultimate match of the Six Nations to give them the best possible chance of winning the title, although if favourites France dispatch Scotland events in Cardiff become academic.
“We probably do need to win with four tries if we want to win the tournament, but firstly we need to win,” Earl said.
“The moment we start to think we need to win by four, this game could really unravel. Wales have performed pretty well this campaign and have not quite got the results they have deserved.
“It’s almost a one-off game when you play Wales in Wales, under the roof. Jamie George called it a World Cup final.
“They will be at their best, we have got to be at our best. If you sleepwalk into any sort of game and expect a game to go a certain way, it won’t.”
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