Guscott column: Solomona must prove he is not a defensive liability

By Jeremy Guscott
Eddie Jones has picked an impressive England squad for the autumn series, but his job is always hard because his players come from clubs with different attacking patterns. That is why he is looking for smart players who can adapt quickly – including a couple of real No.7s, and flexible play-makers who are comfortable at fly-half and inside-centre.
He is experimenting with Sam Underhill, Tom Curry and maybe Sam Simmonds at openside, and is doing the same in the 10-12 channel.
Given the state of the injuries to Ben Te’o and Manu Tuilagi, and what has worked successfully for Jones so far, I am not surprised to see the likes of Piers Francis and Alex Lozowski picked alongside George Ford and Owen Farrell.
It suggests that he is looking to the future in terms of the way the game opens up if you have play-makers at 10 and 12. Te’o has generally been used as a destructive inside shoulder runner, and creating those playmaker options is not a route one strategy.
However, the Ford-Farrell combination has shown England that if their set-piece is functioning well they can be very successful off first-phase ball – or second phase – by using handling skills and running angles to expose defences.
The other ingredient is players who can finish any chances that are created, and that is why Denny Solomona is back in the squad. Jones knows that Solomona is a born try-scorer, and he will be looking to see whether he can become more reliable in defence.
That certainly wasn’t the case with Solomona in Argentina, and it seems to me that the only way that Semesa Rokoduguni can be left out of the squad is because the Bath winger’s defence is not up to what they want. The test will be whether Solomona can get England’s defensive patterns in his head. If he can, you will have some player – but one lasting truth about international rugby is that you cannot carry a player who is a defensive liability.
There is also a recall for Jonny May, who is in there because he’s scoring tries – and with Jack Nowell injured it has given May and Solomona an opportunity to make their cases that might not come around again.
May’s problem in the past at international level is that he has been brilliant one minute and out to lunch the next. However, since he joined Leicester he seems very focused and looks in good form – as does the whole team, who you can get a Bet365 free bet on to win the Aviva Premiership
Jones has also included Marcus Smith and Zach Mercer in the squad as apprentice players, but I don’t understand the labelling. They are there because he wants to have a look at them, and to me that makes them the same as everyone else in the squad irrespective of their age.
Jones is pushing fitness as a big priority, and the message is that if you cannot last 80 minutes he is not interested. If you look at the back row the newcomers are all quick, durable, and dynamic – a bit like rugby league players.

I would try Simmonds at No.7 because of his size. I’d love to see him there because he seems quicker to me than either Curry or Underhill. He has shown for Exeter that he is brave enough and hard enough, although it is still early days to assess how good he is at the breakdown. He fits into the attacking shape at Exeter very well, but again we will have to see if he can be as effective for England.
Underhill has shown at Bath that he is a very tough, durable, and a strong tackler. However, he needs to develop the rest of his game.
I don’t know as much about Curry, but what is clear is that Jones wants smart footballers everywhere on the pitch. For instance, Charlie Ewels covers lock and can play at blindside. He doesn’t make many errors, and that means your momentum is continuous and denies the opposition many opportunities.
Jones’ decision to pick another Bath forward, hooker Tom Dunn, is a big call. Dunn’s not really caught my eye in the games I’ve seen, but his stats are very good. Jones says he is a hard nut, and let’s hope he is. This third hooker slot is a bit of a poisoned chalice because those given it before him – like Luke Cowan-Dickie and Tommy Taylor – did not seem to last long.
Dylan Hartley’s inclusion in the squad suggests strongly that he is going to pull the Northampton hooker through to the World Cup as captain, because if he was going to make a change this would be the time to do it.
He has done it with James Haskell, moving him aside to make way for new blood, so Hartley looks as if he is nailed-on unless he makes a really big mistake.
The biggest change in the pack is that now almost all the guys are multiple carriers. With the ball in play so much more, effective ball-carriers in the forwards are essential, and it means that you cannot go too lightweight.
Nobody is more explosive than Ellis Genge, and with Mako Vunipola already in place Jones has some serious talent at loosehead. There’s a good blend elsewhere, too, with the strength of Billy Vunipola (when fit) and Nathan Hughes, the fitness of Maro Itoje, George Kruis, Nick Isiekwe and Ewels, and the speed of the new back row men.
The opening game of the autumn against Argentina will be quick, so Jones could experiment knowing that in the summer they played the Pumas at their own game and came out on top. However, the real test of how far he moves the dial towards speed will be whether he picks Simmonds against Australia.

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