“To sum it up; he is no-nonsense and just gets on with it. He knows what he wants to do, he knows what the team needs to do and he is quite direct in communicating that. He expects high standards. He has been super-loyal to Dylan and to the team.”
Eddie Jones’ words as he started to discuss why England inside centre has been selected to lead the national side this weekend in the absence of Dylan Hartley. He followed them up with ‘it was an easy option for me to take because we want someone in the same mould as Dylan’.
Of course the Saracen has captained England on a number of occasions under his head coach however not from the outset nor for a full match. On Thursday at Pennyhill Park the 26-year-old was his usual calm, measured and focused self. He worked his way around all of his broadcast interviews, sit down one-to-one interviews and the larger press conference quietly and diligently. There’s no doubt that behind closed doors he's immensely proud about leading his country out at the Stade de France but as you’d expect in public he's taking it all in his stride and just getting on with it. There's no fanfare or show. Yes, his heart will be beating a little faster when he wakes up on Saturday morning and when the bus drives into the Stade de France and when he lines up in the tunnel ready to run out but right now it's business as usual.
'Super-loyal to Dylan' were Eddie Jones' words and he elaborated further on their meaning a short time after.
“Loyalty in a team sport is one of the number one qualities you want. When you get an international team who has stars in their own team [club] – all of our guys are stars for their teams – the ability of them to work together and be loyal to each other is vital.
"Perhaps with past English teams, it has not been the case. I think we’ve got guys now who work for each other and understand that one person has a “C” next to their name and you’ve got to give them everything you’ve got.”
England’s head coach always leaves Dylan Hartley to own the latter part of the week and the build into game day. With the hooker still being in camp it's up to Dylan and Owen to will ‘work it out between them’ as to how they manage this dynamic. When it comes to the team’s development you’d expect that the back would take the lead now. Why, when Dylan is still around? Well, because if the Northampton Saint wasn’t available at any point in the future, god forbid due to a more serious injury, then the team would need to know how to function - fully - without his voice, his presence and his leadership there.
One other point that England’s head coach made about his captain this week is that when it came to ‘that’ incident in the tunnel in Scotland he believe that his back simply ‘did what was right for the team’. He concluded that it was his expectation that his players do what is right for the team and left it there. My perspective on that incident, is that it was one of those things that was blown out of proportion. At the end of the day words are set and tempers flair... it happens!
When it comes to Le Crunch itself, England’s head coach has tasked his side with being ‘brutal and aggressive on the gain line' and playing with great 'tactical discipline’. In short having the physical intensity that you need to counter France whilst showing the agility and smarts to adapt on the hoof. Both are areas that I expect to see from his men early on at the Stade de France. I'm fascinated to see England's back-three combine and clicking quickly as a trio will be key for them. Whilst in the midfield Ben Te'o has been charged with letting Mathieu Bastareaud know that he's there and shutting him down:
“He [Bastareaud] is a bit of an icon player for them. Read all the press: he’s been built up as the guy who’s going to regenerate French rugby. So it’s important that, early in the game, we let him know he’s going to have a tough day in the office. The other key position for any French team is the 9 – he’s been playing in a dinner suit. We want to put a bit of heat on him.
“He [Bastareaud] is a bit of an icon player for them. Read all the press: he’s been built up as the guy who’s going to regenerate French rugby. So it’s important that, early in the game, we let him know he’s going to have a tough day in the office. The other key position for any French team is the 9 – he’s been playing in a dinner suit. We want to put a bit of heat on him.
Turning the spotlight from Mathieu Bastareaud to France as a whole then Eddie Jones has always believed that they had the potential to come good in this competition. Indeed he highlighted that at the tournament launch and so far in this competition they haven't surprised him.
“No, as I said at the start of the tournament I always thought they would be a much better team. They have an experienced coach in place who knows what international rugby is about, who knows how to select well and he’s a disciplined coach and they’re starting to play like that so it hasn’t surprised me at all.”
Finally he had a word on his counter-part Jacques Brunel and the longevity that he has shown in world rugby.
“Anyone who can last the distance, go 15 rounds against Muhammad Ali… if you coach professionally for 20 years you are doing a lot of things right. He’s a good selector, he’s got a certain style of play, always picks big physical teams, they always play like that and if they’re good enough they win.”
