Ben Earl welcomes extra ‘string to his bow’ that won’t do his British and Irish Lions chances ‘any harm’

Alex Spink
British and Irish Lions squad member Ben Earl talks about his versatility.

British and Irish Lions squad member Ben Earl talks about his versatility.

Ben Earl has put himself in a strong position for a job with the British & Irish Lions bomb squad this summer, helped by a markedly different attitude to versatility than Austin Healey took a generation ago.

The England back-row star showcased his hybrid ability for Saracens on Saturday, starting the game against Newcastle as a forward and finishing it as a back.

He scored a try at number eight, exhibiting the power off the base which made him England‘s most valuable player at the 2023 World Cup. He then shifted into midfield and bagged a second.

On a tour to the other side of the world where personnel is limited, versatility is a precious asset. Head coach Andy Farrell has already identified that in his selection of Marcus Smith as a full-back cum fly-half.

Can play three positions

Earl offers even more options, given his proven international class at openside as well as number eight. Saturday at StoneX bore witness to clear evidence that he can do a decent job in midfield too.

“I don’t think it’s going to do me any harm,” he admits, when asked whether he feels his ability to play in both pack and back division could be valuable to the Lions in Australia.

“I’ve always said I’m pleased to have it as another facet to my game but I’ve got to stay true to what I can do. Regardless of the number on my back or the role I’ve been given, if I can stay true to myself and how I want to play the game, I won’t be too far off it.”

Earl plays down the size of challenge involved in swapping between seven, eight and 12, claiming the requirements of those positions are much the same.

“It’s not like with someone like Elliot [Daly],” he says. “13, wing and full-back are three almost different kettles of fish. As a 12 or a seven or an eight, if you run hard, hit hard, carry hard you’re not going to be too far off.

“You’re not going to see me kicking, you’re not going to see me doing some sort of intricate backs play. You’ll see me have a bit of a dig. If that happens, how bad can it be?

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“Honestly, I’m more of a 12 sometimes than I am a back-rower when I’m playing. [The hybrid part] is probably overhyped, but if it’s a string to my bow then so be it.”

A generation ago England star Healey was the definition of versatility. He played virtually every position in the backline yet regarded it more as a curse than a blessing.

“There is no word I hate more in the English language, in fact from now on I will refer to it as v*********y,” he wrote in his 2001 autobiography Lions, Tigers and Roses: The Austin Healey Story.

“People think it means you can do a lot of things but you can’t actually do any of them all that well. As a result you end up on the bench. History has not been kind to v*******e players. Most have tended to lose out, certainly out of starting line-ups.”

Rugby has become a 23-man game in the ensuing 24 years. Often success is measured more by the team that finishes than the one which starts. Look at South Africa. They owe a significant chunk of two World Cups to their bomb squad. These days, if your bench replacements do not add value, you tend to lose.

Asked whether he has to change mindset when the call comes to move to centre from his coach, either Saracens boss Mark McCall or England head coach Steve Borthwick, Earl laughs: “Only whenever there’s a knock-on don’t run towards the scrum!”

Rest assured, Farrell will take the 27-year old’s versatility very seriously down under, for all the reasons Courtney Lawes stated in a column for The Times earlier this year.

Lawes on Earl versatility

“What this Six Nations has reinforced is that forwards and backs play a different sport,” he wrote. “France go 7-1 [on the bench], England go 6-2 because they want to keep the intensity and workrate of their pack as high as possible for 80 minutes.

“Both systems come with injury risk and both rely on utility players. Earl will be so valuable for England in that regard – and hopefully the British & Irish Lions this summer – because he is emerging as a genuine inside-centre option.

“We kind of always knew that Ben was a back playing as a forward. He’s only really a forward because he’s tenacious enough to play there. If he was a bit less abrasive then he’d probably just be an unbelievable outside centre.

“So it doesn’t surprise me at all that he’s done so well. Fundamentally he’s just a skilful rugby player.

“You see it with the Fijians all the time, they’ll play back-row one week and then on the wing the next or in the centres. If you’ve got the athletes to do it, why not? It’s good for the game. It’s good to be open-minded in what you have in your team and that’s where you unlock your potential.”

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