2 hours ago
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Selecting your best XV to start a big rugby match feels increasingly quaint these days, as redolent of a different era as the Generation Game or Starsky & Hutch. To the point where you half expect to find the home team sheet to face New Zealand this weekend has D-N-A-L-G-N-E printed at the top of it. Even with the All Blacks in town, the traditional order of selection no longer applies.
Instead it is all about the endgame. On this occasion Steve Borthwick has picked six British & Irish Lions on his bench compared with only four in his starting lineup. At some point around the 50th minute on Saturday there will be a mass discarding of XXL tracksuits and a whole fresh set of white orcs will rumble on. As South Africa’s “Bomb Squad” have long since shown, it can be mighty hard to combat.
There is just one small snag. When you are playing against the world’s second-best team it is important to start fast as well. Sitting around awaiting the cavalry charge of Tom Curry, Ellis Genge, Henry Pollock and co will look like less of a genius idea if the All Blacks, as they were against Scotland at Murrayfield, are 17-0 ahead at half-time.
But that’s the modern way for you. And few are more expert on the subject than Borthwick, who sat out several matches as an unused England replacement in his playing days. Among them, he recalled this week, was the famous Test against New Zealand in Wellington in 2003, the night when England’s pack was reduced to six by yellow cards to Lawrence Dallaglio and Neil Back.
Even then Borthwick, Dorian West, Andy Gomarsall and Paul Grayson still spent the entire 80 minutes on the sidelines. On the flipside, in Rome the previous year, Clive Woodward brought on four England captains – Martin Johnson, Dallaglio, Jason Leonard and Matt Dawson – against Italy after 56 minutes, memorably described in the Guardian as “the most illustrious bench since Mr Chippendale was in his woodwork shop.”
This one almost rivals it for “Big Dog” vibes, with England clearly hoping to reel in New Zealand in the last 20 minutes. “Each game we’ve played against New Zealand has gone late in the game,” Borthwick said. “So we need the right players on to finish the game ... having that level of experience on the bench is also an important asset for us.”
There will be those shelling out £234 for a single premium seat to Allianz Stadium this weekend wondering if a discounted rate might be available if games now effectively hinge on 20-odd minutes rather than the full 80. Joking aside, though, there is another quietly persuasive explanation: that Borthwick’s faith in Fin Baxter, Joe Heyes and Guy Pepper is becoming so firmly rooted that England’s “best” starting lineup is not quite what many casual fans imagine.
Whether that qualifies Borthwick as “a bold selector” is not something he is minded to discuss – “I don’t go for labels ... I try and pick the best team we possibly can to get the results” – but England’s current sequence of nine Test wins in a row has served to firm up his belief that, now more than ever, Test rugby is a 23-man game. “I think every player understands this is a team effort. The 36 players here helping the team prepare all play a part. That kind of selfless attitude hasn’t necessarily always been the case in an England team. That was not my experience when I was a player.”
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Some delicate judgments are having to be made, even so, in the absence of the injured Tommy Freeman and Ollie Chessum. Borthwick also says he feels “spoilt for choice” at fly-half and, on this occasion, it is Northampton’s Fin Smith who misses out entirely. Given the damp weather forecast, the choice of George Ford at No 10 is hardly a huge surprise and the security of New Zealand’s back three under the high ball is sure to be regularly examined.
Then there is the added importance of experience and, in Marcus Smith’s case, the need to have a bench reserve capable of slotting into the back three with Elliot Daly still not quite big game-ready. “I could have picked any of the three fly-halves and be sat here talking about how they’re the right player because I think they’re all terrific,” Borthwick said. “George is a very calm leader but also has the ability to bring the team together and [put] the team on to the front foot. That’s what I’ll be looking for him to do on Saturday.”
Will it all be enough? England lost three times against the All Blacks last year by a total margin of just 10 points and, in terms of nailing chances, Scott Robertson’s side remain as sharp as any. In that event there must be every chance of a close contest which potentially boils down to the last 20 minutes. Which is clearly what D-N-A-L-G-N-E are anticipating.
