And in today's Telegraph:
The plight of Dan Robson highlights England's need for the Saxons to come out of hibernation
Eddie Jones stands by his trusted lieutenants but sometimes to the determent of rising stars and those on the fringes
It is one of Eddie Jones’ many paradoxes that the England head coach is an extremely radical yet archly conservative selector.
By one count, he has called up 149 players to England squads over the past five years, but as we have seen recently he is also loyal to a fault to trusted lieutenants such as Billy Vunipola, Ben Youngs and Elliot Daly. The relative youth of this current England team has created a sizeable blockage where dozens of players have come into a few camps, maybe even gained a couple of caps and are then dumped.
This is Jones’ prerogative. His sole job is to pick the best England XV, but this can breed simmering frustration. As Bath No 8 Zach Mercer detailed in Friday’s Daily Telegraph, his lack of contact from Jones let to him signing for Montpellier at the age of 23. Others, such as Cameron Redpath have thrown in their lot with other countries. There is no guarantee that either Harry Randall or Paolo Odogwu could not follow suit to Wales and Italy in future despite their presence in England’s Six Nations squad.
What would English rugby give then to have a mechanism to keep these players engaged in their system and giving them a platform to prove they are ready to take the next step? In effect, what price would the Rugby Football Union be prepared to bring back the Saxons team, which has been dormant for the past five years? The Saxons remain England’s officially recognised second team meaning an appearance for them against equivalent opposition “captures” their permanent allegiance.
Scrum half Dan Robson played in the Saxons’ last fixture, against South Africa A in 2016 and says that it had significant impact on his development.
“The experience was the big thing for me,” Robson said. “We played a really good brand of rugby. We wanted to throw it around and try to run the South Africans a bit ragged. And I think we did that pretty well. It was my first big proper tour away from age group rugby and I loved every moment of it. It drove me to want to want more.”
Robson is a good case study of a player who needed that. Jones clearly places a premium on experience in his starting scrum halves. The four players who have worn the No 9 shirt during his reign are Youngs (32), Willi Heinz (34), Danny Care (34) and Richard Wigglesworth (37). Yet how does a player can gain experience unless you are trusted to start a game? In Robson’s case, he is approaching 29 having made nine appearances off the bench, including most recently an excellent cameo in the 41-18 victory against Italy.
Jones has frequently mentioned he pays little store to club form – where Robson has been the leading English scrum half of the past four seasons. A Saxons team would have provided the necessary showcase for Robson to prove to dispel what other doubts Jones may have around his communication or game management skills.
“It (the Saxons) is just a stepping stone isn’t it,” Robson said. “It’s another opportunity for players to be able to showcase themselves in a different environment and to get that feeling of being away in camp and really try to improve every day. It’s massively important. We haven’t had those tours for a while now. Hopefully we can get back to something like that.”
Who would make an England Saxons team now?
Backs: Freddie Steward (Leicester); Ollie Thorley (Gloucester), Paolo Odogwu (Wasps), Piers O’Conor (Bristol), Ollie Hassell-Collins (London Irish); Joe Simmonds (Exeter), Harry Randall (Bristol)
Forwards: Beno Obano (Bath), Tom Dunn (Bath), Ehren Painter (Northampton), Nick Isiekwe (Northampton), Alex Moon (Northampton), Ted Hill (Worcester), Ben Curry (Sale Sharks), Sam Simmonds (Exeter)
Both Conor O’Shea, the RFU’s director of performance rugby, and Jones have recently made supportive comments about the return of the Saxons. O’Shea’s predecessor Jon Callard says that it is a crying shame that the Saxons has been placed on a five-year hiatus. He points to a 2014 match between a Saxons team, containing up and comers Elliot Daly, Kyle Sinckler and Henry Slade against a Barbarians side containing 700 caps.
“Sinckler held his own against this gnarly experienced Barbarians pack,” Callard said. “He was fantastic. Then you looked at Slade and think this boy is all silky, but he toughed it out. He took a smash, went off and got a load of stitches and came back on. You thought there is something there.”
The RFU retain the option of bringing the Saxons back, although it would come at a cost of organising player release from Premiership clubs. The governing body, however, has considerable leverage since agreeing to suspend relegation from the top flight. As Callard suggests lack of suitable opponents could be solved by arranging tours to countries like Georgia who are desperate for such competition.
It comes back to what price the RFU are willing to pay, but Callard says you only need to look at the current England team for proof of its benefits.
“You look how valuable Sinckler to this current team. How valuable Daly is to the team. How valuable Slade is. That is the power of the Saxons. I would make sure it is an essential component of rugby landscape.”
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