If you look at Jones previous rwc squads he tends to rely on 1 stan out scrum half. He obviously sees Youngs as this one.
If he needs a deputy, he wants some experienced. So it is between Heinz and Wiggelsworth.
Feel sorry for Spencer and Robsonx they would both be in my squad.
Would anyone with a sub be kind enough to copy it out. Ta
Although I should stop reading articles about the scrumhalf options as it keeps angering me!
If you look at Jones previous rwc squads he tends to rely on 1 stan out scrum half. He obviously sees Youngs as this one.
If he needs a deputy, he wants some experienced. So it is between Heinz and Wiggelsworth.
Feel sorry for Spencer and Robsonx they would both be in my squad.
He might see Youngs as a standout scrum half, but apart from about 5-10 games of his international career, there's no evidence for that
Can someone post the article for those without the subscription please?
Masterplan or panic stations? England scrum-half conundrum nears the crunch for Eddie
Charlie Morgan
8 AUGUST 2019 • 7:00AM
Six weeks until the start of Rugby World Cup 2019, the mystifying merry-go-round of players coming in and heading out of the England camp is continuing to spin.
Unquestionably, scrum-half is the area shrouded in most uncertainty. Willi Heinz, a 32 year-old, New Zealand-born number nine, is poised for an international debut on Sunday against Wales at Twickenham.
The former Crusader only arrived on these shores in 2015. He attended a single England training camp two years later.
This weekend, he would become the fourth scrum-half to make a Test bow for England during Eddie Jones’ three-and-a-half-year tenure as head coach.
For all of Heinz’s qualities – and he is a tough, diligent “glue player” according to England scrum coach Neal Hatley – the situation is not an endorsement of either local talent or forward planning.
So, why is Jones so particular about scrum-halves and what can we expect to see out in Japan and beyond?
What has Jones worked with previously?
Jones clearly relishes Rugby World Cups. Over three campaigns – with Australia in 2003, as a South Africa assistant four years later and leading Japan last time out – his record stands at 16 victories and two defeats.
He has reached two deciders, winning one, and masterminded the most preposterous upset in the tournament’s history. One common thread throughout those teams has been the presence of at least one exceptional scrum-half.
With the Wallabies 16 years ago, Jones’ captain was George Gregan. Gregan started all but one of Australia’s seven matches. His deputy, workmanlike New South Welshman Chris Whitaker, accrued three minutes off the bench in the pool game against Argentina and 14 more minutes as a replacement in the quarter-final arriving when Jones’ team had built up a 33-9 lead.
Whitaker did start the 142-0 defeat of Namibia. A young Matt Giteau travelled as an emergency scrum-half, so Gregan was rested from the squad entirely. Jones knew that his skipper, a crisp distributor who possessed a wonderful feel for the rhythm of a Test match, was precious.
In 2007, Fourie du Preez was close to the peak of his powers for the Springboks. Jones was a big fan of the master box-kicker and scampering runner. Indeed, after a sniping display from Ben Youngs against South Africa in 2016, Jones hoped that the Leicester Tiger “could have the same influence as Fourie du Preez had on the Springboks”. We will come to his reliance on Youngs later.
Japan’s rapid, ruck-and-run phase-play of 2015, which helped them punch well above their weight, would not have been half as effective without the speed and slick service of Fumiaki Tanaka and Atsushi Hiwasa. Those two underpinned Jones’ tactical framework. He knows precisely how influential scrum-halves can be.
What is the scrum-half story so far with England?
Between them, Youngs and Danny Care have started 39 of Jones’ 40 Tests in charge of England. Richard Wigglesworth makes up the numbers courtesy of wearing the number nine shirt against Ireland as Joe Schmidt’s men completed their Grand Slam at Twickenham in 2018.
Over an unbeaten 2016 and an extremely successful 2017, Youngs and Care dovetailed beautifully. The former became a flagship finisher, arriving from the bench to inject tempo with lively running and deft kicking.
Even when Jones had an inkling to mix things up and unleashed Care from the off in Paris when chasing a Six Nations clean-sweep, he was rewarded with a wonderfully opportunistic try from the Harlequin. Care thrived with added responsibility in Argentina, yet fell out of favour a year later and was axed for the 2018 trip to South Africa.
While Ben Spencer of Saracens and Wasp Dan Robson travelled, Jones kept Youngs on the field for all but 14 minutes of the three-match series. Spencer received two brief cameos, Robson nothing. In this year’s Six Nations, Robson had leap-frogged back ahead of Spencer as Youngs’ deputy. He was used sparingly until he was struck down blood clots.
Spencer stepped back in. However, despite a glittering season with Saracens in which Spencer has shown plenty of assets – accurate box-kicking to pressurise opposition wings, decent service and lightning pace – Heinz’s control and vocal organisation have earned a shot. “He allows other people to shine,” says Hatley of the Gloucester man.
Jones has warned previously that you will find inconsistencies when reviewing his press conference quotes, but it is interesting to review exactly what he has said about the scrum-half landscape. He labelled Jack Maunder a “cheeky little bugger” on calling up the Exeter Chief, then 20, to face Argentina in 2017 and giving him three minutes as a replacement at the manic finale of a 38-34 triumph in San Juan. Ben Vellacott and Harry Randall have come up in media sessions, too.
In January 2019, explaining that Care had been usurped, Jones added that “we have been always wanted to look at Robson” as “a fast half-back who can shift the ball quickly”. Of course, he could have blooded Robson against the Pumas 18 months previously. Second-guessing is futile as we come to the crunch.
What will happen in Japan…and into the next Rugby World Cup cycle?
Alongside his job at Old Swinford Hospital School, former England international Shaun Perry mentors scrum-halves at Wasps and runs a business coaching promising youngsters in his old position. Like many, he believes Robson should have accumulated more caps by now and is baffled as to why 84-cap Care has “disappeared” off the radar.
Perry cites Ollie Fox and Max Green (both Bath) and Will Porter (Wasps) as former England age-group representatives capable of shining with Premiership exposure. But this is where is gets tough. South Africans Faf de Klerk (Sale Sharks), Cobus Reinach (Northampton Saints) and Francois Hougaard (Worcester) are their respective clubs’ go-to scrum-halves. Tongan Tane Takulua of Newcastle Falcons will take on England in Japan.
A cut-throat competition is not an easy breeding ground to hone homegrown half-backs, even if Bristol were rewarded for signing Randall from Gloucester. Perry himself got his shot when then-Bristol boss Richard Hill picked him up from Coventry.
Clearly, there can be benefits of tyros learning their trade under a polished operator. After a season picking the brains of electric Reinach, Alex Mitchell lit up Twickenham against the Barbarians. The 22 year-old even snared an interception at the tail of a lineout – Reinach’s trademark in 2018-19.
Youngs, now the proud owner of 85 England appearances and the most-capped scrum-half his nation has ever seen, is undoubtedly the first-choice for Jones. Given the gap behind him, he is up arguably there with Owen Farrell and Billy Vunipola as one of the most important individuals in the squad.
At his best, he ties in fringe defenders and keeps heavy runners pounding over the gain-line. One blind-side raid against New Zealand last November wrong-footed opposing full-back Damian McKenzie and preceded a looping pass that allowed Chris Ashton to slide over and score.
England’s territorial tactics lean heavily on Youngs’ box-kicking. When hanging strikes are clean and well-judged, an aggressive chase causes havoc. Sometimes, though, over-reliance on this method has made England look clunky and unimaginative. Wales’ win February, when their assured back three alleviated the aerial threat, has been the latest example. Just as Youngs can spark England, he can cause them to stutter. That is why the form of a scrum-half is so important.
Jones has used only two scrum-halves in past Rugby World Cup tournaments. He may opt to bring three – and make up the extra body by deploying a specialist lock at blindside flanker – because of the short turnaround between the first two pool matches against Tonga and the USA.
That would seemingly open the door for Spencer, although Jones has also hinted that the wily, 36 year-old Wigglesworth could be parachuted in at any time. Whatever the final roster, it has been a winding road to complete it.
This "only use one Scrum half" (who unsurprisingly has ended up injured) approach is a tad worrying. Jones had his early success using a proactive subs bench who were picked to give impact, his finishers. In the last 2 seasons he appears to have totally abandoned the concept, with worse results and poor adaptavity in either turning around or closing out a game.
Shaun Perry is baffled about Care's exclusion too.
I dont know why everyone is surprised with the Care situation. He had heated words with Jones at the Japan game and, by all accounts, has not tried to make amends. You may not like the coach or agree with him, but if that's your approach before a world cup, you won't get picked.
Is there any evidence of this and why would a Coach trying to win a RWC allow this to continue to fester?
I have heard it from a number of reliable sources.
As to why Jones would do it - it's because he doesn't rate Care that highly. Care's performances for England over the last 2 years have hardly set the world alight. And the coaches feel he is prone to an error - like an interception pass. This is the exact same reason lancaster didnt start him at the last world cup (having discussed with lancaster myself).
I have heard it from a number of reliable sources.
As to why Jones would do it - it's because he doesn't rate Care that highly. Care's performances for England over the last 2 years have hardly set the world alight. And the coaches feel he is prone to an error - like an interception pass. This is the exact same reason lancaster didnt start him at the last world cup (having discussed with lancaster myself).
Well that worked out well for Lancaster.
Youngs performances over the same period, and before, have hardly set the world alight.
This would all make more sense if Yougs was on the top of his game and if a back up, any one of them, had been given some proper game time in the period after Care fell from grace.
Also, is the suggestion that Care hasn't tried to make amends? I find that hard to believe, that he'd just throw away his chance at a world cup after missing one through last minute injury then another through Lancaster soiling himself
Some bizarre selections, but what do you expect with Eddie? I don't know if he's got a masterplan or is just winging it....
Willie Heinz is an absolute journeyman. He has a good but not infalliable kicking game, he's slow, he's a poor defender, and he's not English.
Ben Spencer is the starting scrum half for the European and Premiership champions. He has one of the best kicking games in the NH, he's very rapid, he's a good defender, and he's English. He's also a dead-eyed goalkicker.
So Eddie goes with the Kiwi, of course.
Agree x 1
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