Northampton’s humiliating capitulation at the hands of East Midlands rivals Leicester on Friday night broke records and exposed the downside of supplying England regulars.
Losing a derby 33-0 at home will leave scars and raise some awkward questions about future plans for recruitment and retention. The Saints welcomed back the man now established as the country’s pre-eminent No 10, Fin Smith, along with his midfield sidekick Fraser Dingwall, but they could do nothing to prevent a grisly massacre.
The glaring result highlights a dilemma for directors of rugby at the leading clubs, in terms of just how helpful it is to have a large contingent of England’s top stars. Northampton have become victims of their own success, which seems inherently wrong.
George Furbank is still recovering from an arm fracture sustained on club duty, Ollie Sleightholme is out for the season with an ankle injury picked up in training with the national team and their fellow Test stalwarts are having to be rested and managed. While Alex Mitchell and Tommy Freeman were taking their turn on the beach, their club were being put to the sword in front of a stunned capacity crowd, which was another example of rugby’s over-crowded schedule diminishing the product.
What clubs need is for leading lights to come back with fuel in the tank and points to prove after the Six Nations window – and Leicester had a couple of backs in that category. Jack van Poortvliet and Freddie Steward were outstanding in the slaying of the Saints; sparky and fired-up after bit-parts in the annual championship.
It was a similar story at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, where Harlequins fought back to upset Saracens. While the hosts had England captain Maro Itoje, Jamie George, Elliot Daly and Tom Willis in their starting line-up, Quins were enhanced by men on a mission; Alex Dombrandt at No 8 and Oscar Beard – who was unused by England despite midfield upheaval during the Six Nations.
Fin Smith couldn’t prevent Northampton’s massacre at the hands of rivals Leicester
While Alex Mitchell was taking his turn on the beach, his club were being put to the sword
Clubs face a dilemma over how helpful it is to have a large contingent of England’s top stars
Elsewhere, Harry Randall exploded back into action for Bristol after a frustrating seven weeks as a largely peripheral figure with England. And Sale were boosted by the return of George Ford, Tom Roebuck, Bevan Rodd and Asher Opoku-Fordjour, who have had little or no game time for weeks.
Itoje is a phenomenon of stamina, endurance and resilience. The lock has somehow managed to play the full 80 minutes for his country in 30 consecutive championship fixtures dating back to the start of the 2020 campaign; a figure nobody else comes close to matching. But even super-humans run low on fuel from time to time and are beaten by those who aren’t so burnt-out.
This is a big, evolving issue for club and country; how to work together to get the best out of the top English talent, in the best interests of all parties.
Steve Borthwick now has a deciding say in the management of players on central ‘enhanced EPS’ contracts – 17 of them at present. Rest periods are built into the new Professional Game Partnership agreement between the RFU and the Premiership teams, but somewhere or other, it means fixtures are inevitably devalued.
That was the case over a derby weekend, which was supposed to relaunch the league season in style. For Phil Dowson at Northampton, Saracens’ Mark McCall and others who might be forgiven for seeing the development of home-grown players as a double-edged sword, it raised difficult questions about the make-up of their squads.
There may come a time when, despite the RFU top-ups, it is regarded as more trouble than it is worth to have a large number of England regulars. In fact, some clubs have already come to that conclusion and recruited accordingly.
There is an argument for bringing in more foreigners or fringe Test candidates. Each individual case is different, but supplying the national team with talent has a detrimental effect in some ways, as well as a prestige factor in its favour.
It is a complex scenario. There are no easy answers. But if clubs become more wary of employing the country’s top stars, due to the associated challenges and limited availability, then that could reopen another can of worms if rich French clubs are encouraged to line up raids.
Maro Itoje is a phenomenon of stamina and resilience but even super-humans run low on fuel
Steve Borthwick has a deciding say in the management of players on ‘enhanced EPS’ contracts
Bristol’s box-office mayhem
Bristol are gloriously bonkers. Even by their standards, blazing to a 40-24 half-time lead against Exeter at Ashton Gate takes the cake in terms of box-office mayhem.
The 10 tries before the break and joint tally of 64 points were both Premiership records, in an area of the West Country where defence coaches are surely left needing therapy.
It will be fascinating to see if the Bears – who went on to win 52-38 – can go all the way and take the title playing like this. It is almost a glorified tactical experiment with high stakes, but a crowd of more than 20,000 proves that it is a hit.
As their social media account said afterwards: ‘If you’re not getting a season ticket after that, we can’t help you.’ Bristol are an impressive club on so many levels, not least because, despite owner Steve Lansdown’s vast wealth, they have sought to carefully manage their playing budget of late.
Title glory could see them usurp Leicester as the biggest club in the land, not that the Tigers would take such a notion lying down, of course.
Meanwhile, Pat Lam is favourite for the vacant Wales head coach job and it might need the same flat-out attacking intent to negate a glaring Welsh power deficit.
Gloriously bonkers Bristol blazed to a 52-38 victory over Exeter in box-office mayhem
The club’s X account released this comical statement after the win in front of a large crowd
Rugby tops football in France
Wonderful news from France for oval-ball devotees, as figures have revealed that, this season, the country’s rugby team have drawn an average TV audience of 6.9million, which eclipses the 4.8m for their football counterparts.
See, it can be done, not that anything of the sort is destined to happen any time soon in these parts.
Meanwhile, the sense of jeopardy in the Gallic leagues continues to expose the cosy, ring-fenced system here – which was reinforced by the news that neither Ealing Trailfinders nor Coventry have fulfilled the criteria for promotion to the Premiership.
On Saturday, Vannes v Perpignan by the Atlantic coast in Brittany will have more edge and tension than any other fixture in Europe. The winners have more chance of staying in the Top 14 while the losers will be in a desperate plight; bottom and running out of hope. There will be a full house in attendance, as usual.
Grenoble are roaring towards an imminent return to the top flight from Pro D2 while Provence and Brive – featuring George North and Courtney Lawes, respectively – scrap to earn a play-off against the team finishing 13th in the Top 14.
Across the Channel, they have honest, epic drama.
France’s rugby team have drawn an average TV audience of 6.9million, figures have revealed
Reds’ resurgence
From the far south, a result on Saturday will resonate in this part of the world, as the resurgent Reds maintained their fine start to the Super Rugby Pacific season with a 29-23 win over the Highlanders, on the other side of ‘The Ditch’; the Tasman Sea.
It was the Queenslanders’ first win in Dunedin for 12 years and leaves them third in the table, hot on the heels of the Crusaders and table-topping Chiefs. Just behind them are the Sydney-based Waratahs. All around, there are Wallabies enjoying greater success with their franchises, ahead of the Lions’ arrival this summer.
Anyone remember those distant days when the three-Test series was being regarded as a tediously-predictable stroll in the park for the tourists…?
The resurgent Reds maintained their superb start to the Super Rugby Pacific season
George Ford must be named England captain for the summer tour – he is better than ever at 32
Last Word
George Ford’s stunning masterclass for Sale at Newcastle on Friday night was the work of a playmaker at the peak of his powers, after all these years.
His box-kick assist for Joe Carpenter’s try on the right – with a small in-goal area to aim at – was an act of visionary genius. Afterwards, his director of rugby, Alex Sanderson, talked up his fly-half as a Lions contender, saying: ‘If George plays like that in the next seven games, it would be very hard not to pick him.’
It was a fair comment – at 32, Ford is better than ever, and his cameo for England in Cardiff was sensational.
Sadly, no matter how well he performs, there is only faint hope of a Lions call-up for the outstanding veteran, although, if Andy Farrell selects his son Owen instead, that would be an injustice.
As a minimum, Ford deserves to be named England captain for the summer tour of Argentina and the USA, and he should be loudly and proudly feted if he duly wins a 100th Test cap in Buenos Aires on July 5. He has been an under-valued creative asset and strategist for so long.
His performance against France in Lyon last March remains the best by an England 10 for years – only challenged by his drop-goal demolition of Argentina in Marseille at the start of the last World Cup.
