Read an interview with Frank Bunce a while ago and he said the player he most feared going up against was Jeremy Gusset. He said all other centres tried to take him on in a physical contest (and lost) but Guscott stayed clear of all that and his pace/step gave Bunce nightmares.
This kind of sums up the English selection lately for me, as in what they are not doing right. As a Welsh fan, every time the England squad/ team has been released for the past few years I breathe a sigh of relief that the dangerous exciting young players that provide a real threat to Wales haven’t been selected (or haven’t ever been selected so haven’t built up the international experience) 😀
Wales (and probably Scotland/ Ireland to some extent) are forced to spread the experience through a range of players and have more of a culture of trusting the lesser capped players- because they have no alternative. The way a lot of these players come on for the international experience is staggering even if they aren’t always world beaters at the end of the day. England seem to have so much talent at their fingertips but fear defeat more than than aim for victory meaning the exciting young guys don’t have the structure to come in to the side and succeed.
I know daddy’s boy #2 is starting to place a little more and give daddy’s boy #1 a rest occasionally but there isn’t a lot of tried and tested experience in the England side outside the first choice guys, particularly in the backs. There isn’t a single back I’d fear looking at the team sheet… but I guess that isn’t England’s game plan…. Farrel kick for territory then lineout/ maul for points from the forwards. Lets hope they try and convince themselves then can play exciting rugby and try to play through the backs to give Wales a chance 😀
