Ex-England player calls on Steve Borthwick to start ‘rawest of inclusions’ versus Wales, claiming the opportunity is a ‘glorious gift’
Stuart Barnes wants to see Vilikesa Sela named to start for England alongside Jamie George, inset
Former England fly-half Stuart Barnes has named the team he wants see start against Wales in the Six Nations opener on February 7 – and it includes what he describes as the ‘rawest of inclusions’.
Rooke Bath prop Vilikesa ‘Billy’ Sela was one of three uncapped players named last Friday as part of the 36-man training squad that has gathered at Pennyhill Park on Tuesday for a day’s training before flying to Girona to continue preparations.
England come into the tournament on the back of an 11-Test-match winning run, and Barnes has called on Steve Borthwick to stretch that record to 12 by using the opener against the Welsh as a “glorious gift” to hand the 20-year-old tighthead his debut… not as a sub but as from the start of the match.
Borthwick has had his options clipped by injuries to Will Stuart and Asher Opoku-Fordjour. Fearing it’s a situation that might happen again at the 2027 Rugby World Cup, the argument was made to start Sela now to accelerate his learning rather than potentially get caught short in Australia next year.
“England’s fourth and fifth options…”
“England are a nation with 11 consecutive wins to their name and a growing, if quiet, confidence in their game,” Barnes began in a column in The Times. “They have a list of injuries at prop forward which would leave the England head coach with fragmented fingernails were this the World Cup.
“But this is a Six Nations – one and a half years out from the World Cup – and with injuries come opportunities. Rarely is a sextet of prop forwards the most eye-catching of selections, but so it proved on Friday when Borthwick unveiled his initial 36-man squad for the Six Nations.
“The head coach backed up his frontline prop forwards with some not altogether surprising picks. At tighthead, he has chosen, when all are fit, England’s fourth and fifth options. Will Stuart and Asher Opoku-Fordjour’s injuries open the way for the extremes.
“Joe Heyes, the ever-improving Leicester Tigers tighthead, is the number one No3, so to speak, but Borthwick will have either an experienced, if only three-times capped, Trevor Davison or Bath’s 20-year-old Vilikesa ‘Billy’ Sela as the rawest of inclusions.
“Such options would be a worry in Australia; here it is a glorious gift for Borthwick, an opportunity, especially to accelerate Sela’s development, and I would put the Bath man straight in to start against Wales.”
To counter-balance the naming of Sela to start, Barnes would have him packing down with Ellis Genge and Jamie George in the front-row.
With Fin Baxter absent, it’s no surprise that Barnes wants the in-form Genge to start ahead of Bevan Rodd and the uncapped Emmanuel Iyogun, but his preference for George, the squad’s elder statesman, isn’t a great reflection on the other choices at hooker.
“Neither Luke Cowan-Dickie nor the talented but untrustworthy thrower, Theo Dan, can be trusted when the pressure mounts as it does through the course of a Test match,” reckoned Barnes.
“The manner in which European teams have been taking one another on at the lineout either indicates that the accuracy and nerve of someone like George is required, or that there is no such thing as a secure lineout anymore.
“Of all the ever-changing trends in the sport, it is the manner in which defending lineouts get their jumpers both in the air and into the throwing hooker’s eyeline that fascinates and most alters the tactical shape of a match.”
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George spoke on Monday at the Six Nations launch in Edinburgh about the presence of inexperienced props in the England squad and what he will do to help them settle in quickly. “A big part of my responsibility in the team is to make sure that they’re up to speed as quickly as they can be,” he said.
“First and foremost, I want them to feel included, I want them to feel a part of it, because that’s the most important thing. Then off the back of it, that’s where you establish exactly what’s expected of you as a prop in an England rugby team, as a general player in an England rugby team, like, this is what we accept, this is what we don’t, we have good fun along the way, let’s rip in!
“And it’s exciting, and I want them to really embrace being a part of this squad, because, you know, we are in a good place, and we want to make sure that we kick on now.”
Barnes would like the kicking game to be executed against Wales with Max Ojomoh at inside centre, continuing the new-look partnership chosen to start last time out against Argentina. “In the back line, Max Ojomoh would be my idea of a catalyst at No.12, a subtle influence with a little more punch than Fraser Dingwall, playing off the shoulder of George Ford.”
Barnes’ England team to face Wales was different to what Sam Warburton believes it should be in these key positions, as he named Heyes as his starting tighthead, Cowan-Dickie and hooker and Fraser Dingwall as his No.12 in his Times column.
“With Will Stuart out, Joe Heyes has to start at tighthead and on the bench I would give uncapped Billy Sela a go,” said Warburton. “No disrespect to Wales, but surely this would be a good time to have a look at him. He’s huge and has so much promise.
“Against New Zealand Jamie George started at hooker, with Luke Cowan-Dickie on the bench, but I would prefer that they are the other way round. I would like Cowan-Dickie’s powerful carrying for 60 minutes and then George’s leadership and experience in the final quarter. He can help Sela out.”
Regarding centre, Warburton added: “Although Max Ojomoh did well at 12 against Argentina, Fraser Dingwall should take that shirt, and, with Ollie Lawrence out, I would go with Tommy Freeman at 13.”
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