David Flatman: Eddie Jones must find right kind of power to reverse England malaise

Right foot forward: James Haskell was in rampaging mood when coming off the bench in Paris and should start against Ireland
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David Flatman12 March 2018

Yes, the All Blacks. Suddenly the best team in the world seem rather a long way off; a self-sufficient, unreachable mini-universe in the just-visible distance.

Five minutes ago, some English rugby fans felt close enough to touch them but now they feel cast adrift. And while many a shellshocked Englander scrabbles for answers with regards to what on earth has gone wrong, our Irish friends focus on nothing but hammering in that aura-popping nail this Saturday.

To win, Eddie Jones’s claim that more power is needed seems bang on the money.

Power is what England have been lacking, and it comes in differing forms. There is the barnstorming kind, presented by Kyle Sinckler and James Haskell in Paris. They came on to the ball like beefed-up banshees, aiming at the gaps between defenders, and France couldn’t live with them. They both deserve to start at Twickenham against Ireland.

Then there is the almost unseen kind, the kind that saw Danny Grewcock achieve 69 England caps. No, not uppercut power but ruck clearing. It sounds simple, primarily because it is. But the creation of repeated quick ball at the top level requires a brutality at the breakdown that has been lost by England.

To this end, Joe Marler should start at loose-head. Mako Vunipola is, perhaps, the finest ball-playing prop there is, but England need fewer big lumps awaiting the ball and speculating and more blokes charged with smashing opposition thieves to pieces. Marler will collide with evil intent and that is what produces quick ball, never mind your textbook technique.

Jamie George deserves all the game time he can get, but Luke Cowan-Dickie is irrepressibly aggressive and it is a wonder to regard. He has the accuracy of throw (a few crooked ones were missed on Saturday, though) and all the skills, but more than that he is a savage. With and without the ball, he is all leering confrontation.

He is similar to French hookers from the Eighties, minus the gouging and squirrel gripping. A force of nature, he must be uncaged as early as possible.

Another issue to address is the selection of specialist ground-level operators.

Chris Robshaw is a fine, highly-active international forward, but he is not a poacher of impossible balls, nor is he a contortionist limpet when menacing opposition ruckers seek to swat him away.

I would play him at blindside flanker and instruct him to enjoy grafting himself to dust for 50 minutes or so, before unleashing Exeter’s Don Armand and ordering him to dish out some Devonian havoc.

In Pictures | France vs England | 10/03/2018

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It is worth remembering that every little piece of work Robshaw does is one that someone else doesn’t have to do, so he literally keeps others’ batteries charged — always handy when you’re asking big men to be repeatedly explosive.

Attacking their own breakdown with appropriate numbers and with more legal violence sounds a touch basic, but much of rugby is, of course.

There are few secrets and, should Jones’s selection and in-house rhetoric have the desired effect, George Ford and Owen Farrell will have a far easier day.

These two are currently being asked to create magic from their heels and, with hungry destroyers in their faces, it is the forward pack’s job to get their key men up on to their toes.

England have not suddenly become a poor team, but they have had a few issues highlighted in crude fashion.

They also have not faced a team as good as Ireland since, well, since they last played Ireland.

This Irish side has such clarity of vision that any English weaknesses will be identified and targeted.

There is always — thankfully — a place for loyalty, but now is the time for a modicum of change. If power and aggression are demanded of his men, then Jones’s selection must lead by example. Boldness is required if England are to save face and beat the northern hemisphere’s best team.

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