England coach Steve Borthwick should be relishing the chance to tour Japan and New Zealand. It is a chance to measure England’s progress in one of rugby’s hardest environments and in the past England have had too few Tests against New Zealand. So how will England and Borthwick approach this adventure?
Traditionally, tours have been seen as the opportunity to introduce younger players to Test rugby without the pressure for results that goes with the Six Nations. Touring presents different challenges and opportunities to Test matches and series that are played at home. The differences might be subtle but the specific pressures that come with shifting from base to base, changing room-mates and the tedium of travelling sometimes shows a side of players that is not seen in home training camps. I’m not talking about whether players make good tourists in the entertainment sense; it is more a question of seeing how well players retain their focus when they move between different environments and at different stages of a tour.
Of the many questions to be answered, Borthwick has to decide whether he gives every touring player a start, either in the first XV or on the bench. You can say that it should come down to straight considerations of form and ability, and that players have to be prepared to travel without playing; this is the professional game after all. That might be so, but there are few tours where this actually takes place and Borthwick knows that only the Japanese Test gives him any real room for experimentation.
Whilst this tilts towards the suggestion that Borthwick will be tempted to start several relatively inexperienced players in Tokyo, there is another consideration. One of the few advantages England can take into the first New Zealand match in Dunedin is the fact they will have played a “warm-up” Test. The All Blacks are likely to contain new unit combinations and the first Test is the best chance to catch them cold. So Borthwick might, at least for part of the Japan game, play almost all of the team that he intends to start against the Kiwis.
Borthwick is unlikely to view this tour as developmental, given that it is the one chance he might have to play in New Zealand before the next World Cup, and he has been shown to be a cautious operator. I think he is likely to tread something of a middle line, blooding some new talent whilst maintaining some continuity, particularly when it comes to selecting his backs.
The good news is that few players are unavailable because of player workload restrictions – even those who played in the Premiership final have had a week’s break before the opening game. The bad news is that the Northampton Saints and Bath players who have joined the squad have had considerably less time to train with Borthwick’s original touring squad. He therefore might look at club combinations to start the Japan game or stick largely to the players who have had the most preparation time together. Whatever route he goes, England cannot afford to go into the New Zealand series on the back of a loss.
Up front, the only position where England have questionable depth is at tighthead and Trevor Davison’s omission has raised a few eyebrows given the form he has shown for Northampton this season. Although Dan Cole and Joe Marler, a loosehead, are still turning in solid performances, they are surely not going to feature in the run-up to the next World Cup. There are no obvious young replacements for them and this is an issue that Borthwick is going to have to deal with in the next 12 months. Starting Fin Baxter and Will Stuart against Japan would at least give Borthwick the chance to see different options; the same with Alex Coles in the second row.
In the back row where Borthwick has to decide on what he wants and then fit the players accordingly. Does he view Chandler Cunningham-South or Ethan Roots as his No 6, or will he be tempted to shift George Martin from the second row? His inclusion of Tom Curry, after such a lengthy absence because of injury, does not make sense unless he intends to pick him, so Sam Underhill might sit out the first game.
In the backs the decisions are more straightforward as England have been starting to shape a centre partnership and a new back three. More of the same is the likely outcome behind the scrum.
My England starting XV to play Japan
15 George Furbank, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Ollie Lawrence, 11 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Harry Randall, 1 Fin Baxter, 2 Jamie George, 3 Will Stuart, 4 George Martin, 5 Alex Coles, 6 Chandler Cunningham-South, 7 Tom Curry, 8 Ben Earl
