Ollie Phillips: Tackle-bag carriers must not poison England squad
It must be a weird feeling being one of the fringe players in England head coach Steve Borthwick’s first World Cup training squad, because the odds are that you’ll be dropped.
Next Monday sees the addition of players from Northampton Saints and Leicester Tigers – I estimate that to be more than 10 and closer to 15 – while the following week players from Sale Sharks and Saracens will be added to the mix before the final squad is confirmed on 7 August.
It will be difficult for a few of the lads there who, in all honesty, will know they’re tackle-bag carriers for some of the others. And that’s part and parcel of being a member of a wider training squad.
England stability
It’s important, however, that those players don’t become a poison to the remainder of the squad and bring them down – there is a risk that those kinds of players can allow their mood to permeate the group.
Borthwick either needs to be a really good liar and tell them they have a shot, or be sensitive in dealing with the matter.
Take scrum-half, for example. The existing training squad – made up of the seven clubs who did not make the semi-finals of the Premiership – includes Bath’s Ben Spencer, Harlequins’ Danny Care and Bristol’s Harry Randall.
They’re all great players but you can also expect the inclusion, in the coming weeks, of Jack van Poortvliet and Ben Youngs of Leicester, Alex Mitchell of Northampton and Raffi Quirke of Sale. There could even be room for fellow Shark Gus Warr.
That would leave Borthwick with eight scrum-halves, and it doesn’t take a genius to see that a quarter of your World Cup squad cannot be No9s.
Elsewhere, I want to see Billy Vinopula given a shot despite his injury lay-off. The Saracens No8 is a talisman for England and would compliment Montpellier’s Zach Mercer well.
In recent times England have lacked ball carriers, and I cannot remember Vunipola going backwards this season when fit.
He has been there and done it so he offers that leadership role but he’s also a workhorse and someone I think England can rely on when it is not all going their way.
Mercer has benefited from a different environment and culture in France, much like I did from my spell playing at Stade Francais. The difference is he’s coming back with a proper shot at starting in an England shirt at a World Cup.
I can see him and Vunipola occupying the starting and benched No8 shirt throughout the tournament in France.
It must be hard being a bag carrier, but I just hope Borthwick can use his man management skills to ensure there’s little-to-no disruption once some players begin to realise their true role.
French finale
As predicted, this weekend’s Top14 final will see European champions La Rochelle and 2021 domestic winners Toulouse go head-to-head at the Stade de France.
Toulouse inflicted the biggest ever semi-final defeat on Racing 92 last weekend (41-14) while La Rochelle made light work of Bordeaux, despite the 24-13 scoreline.
But I see Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle coming up just short this weekend, with Toulouse adding another title to their trophy cabinet. We shall see.
Former England Sevens captain Ollie Phillips is the founder of Optimist Performance, experts in leadership development and behavioural change. Follow Ollie on Twitter and on LinkedIn.