England great tackles ‘lacked a bit’ Pom squad, singles out player whose ‘trust Steve clearly has’ and rubbishes idea of a Duhan van der Merwe recall
For The Love Of Rugby have bene talking about England's Luke Cowan-Dickie and Scotland's Duhan van der Merwe, inset
Ben Youngs has outlined the game plan England will adopt in Edinburgh following Tuesday’s naming of their team to take on Scotland next Saturday in the Six Nations.
Steve Borthwick unveiled a starting XV that promoted skipper Maro Itoje and Luke Cowan-Dickie from the bench, with Alex Coles and Jamie George moving to the replacements where they are joined by the fit-again Fin Smith ahead of the excluded Marcus Smith.
Record England men’s holder Youngs was quick off the mark with his reaction, recording an extensive preview of the Calcutta Cup match with Dan Cole, his former Leicester and international team colleague.
Aside from assessing the starting team changes and the implications for Borthwick’s Six Nations tactics, he also referenced how England’s bench didn’t function as anticipated in the comfortable win over Wales.
Jackal threats
He also dissected Scotland’s ’21 pattern’ style of play, and explained why there is no reason Duhan van der Merwe should be recalled by Gregor Townsend despite the winger scoring seven tries against the English – including a 2024 Murrayfield hat-trick.
“England will go with a high kicking game at the start of the game, without doubt,” explained Youngs on the For The Love Of Rugby show he co-hosts with Cole. “They will go to the air, try to win back the contestable. We saw France do it against Ireland and win. We’ll see more of it from England up in Scotland.
“One thing Scotland do is go multi-phase attack. It’s one of their strengths, something they like to do, and I always feel like Scotland back their game style to unlock England to go multi-phase, get width on the ball, get it into those wider channels and try to move the team about.
“When I look at that (England) team, you’ve suddenly got Luke Cowan-Dickie, who can jackal, a real good jackal threat. Maro Itoje, of course, is a jackal threat. And then you look at the back-rowers, all three are jackal threats.
“So all of a sudden England have got five members in that pack that will be able to contest at that breakdown, so if Scotland want to go multi-phase attack against England, which I dare they will because that is what they do, England are going to target that breakdown and slow them up, especially with those guys having free licence to go at it.
“And then look at the guys who are going to come on off the bench, Bevan Rodd is a jackaller, Henry Pollock can jackal, Tom Curry can jackal. You look at all of them as well and you’re thinking there are threats there to nullify that Scottish multi-phase attack.”
England reached last weekend’s interval versus Wales leading 29-0, but they didn’t impressively kick on in the second half despite unloading their bench and had to settle for a 28-7 win. Youngs reckoned this would now change in Scotland, but his idea that holding George back in reserve would embolden the English scrum was dismissed by Cole, who believes Borthwick’s pack will chase after the set-piece from the first scrum.
“We didn’t necessarily see the impact from the English bench at the weekend, from the Pom squad, albeit Bevan Rodd was very good when he came on. But the rest of it lacked a bit. It sometimes happens when the game is a forgone conclusion.
“We didn’t see the clinical display you’d like or that Steve Borthwick would like to see. So, Jamie George coming off the bench may offer that leadership style. Does he offer a point of difference in terms of the Italian scrum against the Scottish scrum? Does he make the scrum more powerful for the last 20, 30 minutes than maybe a Luke Cowan-Dickie would do in between Trevor Davison and Bevan Rodd?”
“I’d go the other way, Ben,” replied Cole. “Because the way they have seen Italy get stuck into the Scotland scrum, England will almost double down. Cowan-Dickie is, in some regards, a better scrummager than Jamie George; he’s more aggressive, you can see the effects he has had at Sale.
“Because England’s depth is better than Scotland’s in the scrummaging area, if they go really hard at the start and make an impression there, it will hopefully last longer. I also think that change at hooker might be more of a balance of the pack because with Maro coming into the team and having Jamie’s experience on the bench, we can see early doors how Luke Cowan Dickie is.
“You talk about jackaling, it will be interesting that first 20 whether England actually go for the jackal, go for the breakdown, or whether they are just going to be really clean and just tackle and roll away. With Cowan-Dickie starting, he is an expert at the incredibly low chop tackle.
“To have people like him coming off the line early with that intensity, England can then repel Scotland that way and go to the air with the ball and play down their end. Then in the second half, when it opens up, you have an Alex Coles who can come on, you have your back-rowers obviously and Jamie George is that leader within that six forwards. As the game opens up and the collisions happen less, those players can have more of an influence on the game. That’s the way I am looking at it.”
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Youngs added he had no issue with Fin Smith returning to the bench at the expense of the more flexible Marcus Smith, even though George Ford, the No.10 England starter, now usually plays the full 80. “Fin Smith has been unfortunate with injury. There is an element of being able to play a structured game plan against Scotland, and there is that trust Steve clearly has with him,” suggested the retired scrum-half, whose last Test appearance came at Rugby World Cup 2023.
“Marcus has done nothing wrong. It’s just Fin Smith’s ability to control that kicking game, stay in that structure, and that again is a sign for me that is what England are going to be trying to do. You look at it, if we were to lose a centre, this would be interesting. If England lose a centre, do they either move Ben Earl out into the back line, do they move a (Henry) Pollock into the back line, or does Fin Smith come on as a centre?
“You can’t play George Ford as a 12, you can’t do it. You could play Fin Smith as a 12, and then bump (Fraser) Dingwall out, or if Dingwall got hurt he can come off.
“Or if you lost a back three, (Tommy) Freeman would then go into the back three and then Fin Smith can come into the midfield again. It will be interesting to see if that scenario does happen, how England utilise him or do they go with one of the back-rowers moving out there. It kind of depends on how long is left in the game.”
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One player Youngs isn’t expecting to feature at Murrayfield is Van der Merwe, who was excluded from the Scottish team that lost to Italy. His strike rate has wounded England in recent years, but he isn’t back for a recall when Townsend names his Calcutta team on Thursday.
“You have got Blair Kinghorn, who can come back in. You’ve got Darcy Graham, who was on the bench at the weekend and can come back in., You’ve got Kyle Steyn, who has been in terrific form for Glasgow. The other thing you have got to look at is that although Duhan has an amazing strike rate against England, Gregor will notice England will go to the air a lot – it’s a big strength of theirs, the kicking game.
“Duhan van der Merwe, that is not his strength. Being under a high ball is not his point of difference. Being in unstructured, chaotic situations is his point of difference. Lightening quick, with the ability to step people or break through tackles, a power athlete.
“I don’t believe so right now (that he will be recalled). I could be wrong, but I would say no. Because I would say that Darcy Graham is a box of tricks in terms of the elusiveness and the way that he plays, and Blair Kinghorn is a lot better under high ball than Duhan van der Merwe.
“You have got Tom Jordan as well, who can potentially play full-back. You have got Kyle Steyn. So no, I don’t believe so. I’d be surprised if I saw him in the squad and if I did see him in the team, from an England point of view, I’d bombard him aerially, I’d go after contestable all game.”
Asked to explain what the Scotland ‘21 pattern’ of attack is, Youngs added: “What I mean by 21 pattern is if you look at it from where the set-piece is launched from either side of the field, but let’s say it is going from left to right, you hit the middle once, you come around the corner for a second phase and then you go back to where you just came from. So twice around the same way and then come back once – that’s a 21.”
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