Neil Back urges RFU to stick with Eddie Jones

David Skippers

Rugby World Cup 2003 winners Neil Back (L) and Richard Hill (R) with the Webb Ellis Cup during a visit to Wembley Stadium as part of the 100 day Rugby World Cup Trophy Tour of the UK & Ireland. Tickets for the Tournament, which starts on September 18, are on sale now at http://tickets.rugbyworldcup.com. Picture date: {Wednesday September 09, 2015. Picture by Hannah McKay/England Rugby 2015 via PA Wire

With the international season all but concluded, certainly for England, former Red Rose flanker Neil Back joined Planet Rugby’s James While to talk about selection, back-rows and the return of the Six Nations players into Premiership action this weekend.

“Whilst I realise that the Six Nations season this year hasn’t gone according to plan for Eddie Jones and his men, I am a great supporter of him and his methods and I feel people need to understand the restrictions that the 28-man squad with PRL has given,” noted Back.

“With more and more coverage, and with the catalyst affect social media tends to have, it seems that everyone has a view without fully understanding the facts yet the point remains that the only person whose opinion matters is that of the head coach.

Big supporter of Eddie Jones

“I want to make it clear that I’m a big supporter of Eddie and his methods and I am absolutely a supporter of his retention in the job. That’s not to say things have not gone wrong, but the key here is to accept the circumstances we found ourselves in – those of limited squads, Saracens lads not fully up to match hardness and so on – and to learn from the mitigation points, learn from the mistakes and capture the good things we saw, such as the handling and attack witnessed in the French game.

“People forget that we had a similar slump in 2018, yet 18 months later put in one of the finest performances in a Rugby World Cup semi-final. Jones has, in simple terms, proven his worth as a coach and he and the team don’t become poor overnight, so the key here is to identify the issues, correct them and move on.

“In terms of the selections, look, these were in January, exactly the right guys to select based upon the evidence we had. We then had the 28-man squad agreement with PRL, so the guys picked were the guys that had to play, a simple fact of life. The good thing is that we now have a view on form and fitness and can make adjustments as necessary.

“Going back to my point re social media, few of the armchair pundits understand just how big the leap up from Premiership to top Test rugby is. It’s absolutely massive and getting players into that environment is not an overnight job. There’s probably only a handful of Premiership or European games that reach full Test intensity and the leap of performance level required for international players is substantial.

“Furthermore, selecting a Test back-row is as much about balance as it is individual skill. I am a big fan of Sam Simmonds – he’s on course to smash my personal record of 16 Premiership tries in a season – he’s on 14 now – and I really hope he does it as it’s stood for far too long. Sam is a lot more than just a try scorer.

He does the hard stuff well and his all-round game is solid, but to emphasise my point re balance, selecting him at eight means a rejig of the other back-row positions to maintain power in carry, lineout options and so on. In short, it’s not a case of just dropping someone into a unit – you have to make sure that unit has the right skill blends to be effective.

“Looking forward to the Premiership weekend, we’ve seen some thrilling games this season, a result of the lack of relegation and a product of teams looking to expand the experience of their youngsters. A great example of this is the Wasps versus Sale game, one I expect to be an end-to-end thriller with both sides relishing counter-attack off turnover.

“One of the young gun back-rowers that’s really impressed me is Alfie Barbeary, a tremendously physical player who was on a trajectory into the England team until injury hit, but is smashing it up again after his return,” added Back.

“Lee Blackett has pinned his past to blooding his academy talent, and whilst there’s a dip in form that you’d expect as a result, I think this match will be a quality encounter, with Sale’s big forwards and attacking ambition in the backs making it a tough one to call.

“Bristol’s hosting of the form team Harlequins is another encounter I can’t wait to see and a game that will be played at very high intensity. I was surprised to see Paul Gustard depart from Quins earlier this year, but the senior leaders in the team, combined with some wonderful youthful attacking ambitions has seen them play with a lot of freedom.

“Again, there’s a canvass here for fringe players around the England team to step up and show what they can do in a high tempo intense game and although it’s impossible to call, it’s a match I’m particularly savouring.

“However, by saying all that and going back to my points regarding England at the start, now is the right time to see adaptation and change within the England team and the player framework. With some delicious Premiership clashes and all the play for, and with the summer tour ahead, there’s an opportunity to select on form, to develop others as leaders and if we do that, I’m sure we will reinvigorate the national team and become competitive leading in to 2022 and 2023.”

We thank Neil and BT Sport for their time in preparing this interview.

BT Sport is the lead broadcaster of Gallagher Premiership Rugby with every match played behind closed doors live on BT Sport. For more info go to bt.com/sport/rugby-union

Neil Back MBE is an England great. A diminutive yet powerful openside flanker with one of the best rugby intellects in the sport, he played in 71 Tests scoring 17 tries, whilst being selected for three consecutive British and Irish Lions tours. A World Cup winner in 2003, he was one component of the ‘Holy Trinity’ back-row alongside Lawrence Dallaglio and Richard Hill – a combination that played together 49 times and is thought by many to be the finest in the history of Test rugby.

by James While