the times | Friday March 6 2020 1GM 65
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place of Sam Underhill, who was
unavailable for selection having
suffered a head injury in training. Jones
said that Wales, under their former
coach, Warren Gatland, had become
“one of the most physical teams in the
world”. He said: “England-Wales games
are a little bit different, aren’t they?
Since I’ve been coaching, the average
points difference is six points. They are
tough affairs. It goes down to the wire.”
The team announcement came as
the RFU told England supporters who
may have been exposed to the corona-
virus to stay away from the match.
Mako Vunipola has already been
exiled from the England squad after
flying home from Tonga via Hong
Kong, one of the coronavirus hot spots,
and the prop is not expected to be at
Twickenham to watch the game.
England’s Six Nations trip to face
Italy in Rome a week tomorrow has
been postponed after the Italian gov-
ernment ruled it would have had to be‘These games go down to the wire’
played behind closed doors in a bid to
control the spread of the virus.
The financial impact on the Italian
Rugby Federation (FIR) of staging the
game at an empty Stadio Olimpico was
the key factor in the Six Nations decid-
ing to postpone the match indefinitely.
It would have lost an estimated €5 mil-
lion (£4.32 million).
The British government is still happy
for large scale sporting events to go
ahead. Supporters will not be tempera-
ture-checked on their way into Twick-
enham tomorrow but the RFU has
issued NHS hygiene advice to the
82,000 ticket-holders.
Any supporters who have been told
to self-isolate by the NHS or suspect
they may have been exposed to corona-
virus have been told not to attend. The
RFU said refunds would not be avail-
able but affected supporters could use
the official ticket resale service.
A series of new measures designed to
“protect public health” will be in place
at Twickenham, including hand
sanitiser points.Eddie Jones declined to comment on
the postponement of the Italy game,
even though 20,000 England
supporters were due to be in Rome. The
head coach is anxious the news does
not distract his players from the job at
hand, which is defeating Wales to seal
the Triple Crown.
“We’ve got to make sure they don’t
listen to the noise. The only thing they
can control is their performance
against Wales,” he said.
George Ford, the fly half, said post-
ponement had to be the right decision
because “there’s other things going on
in the world that are a little bit more
important” than rugby.
Tickets for the Italy-England game
will remain valid for the rescheduled
date. Refunds will be available. England
Rugby Travel packages will be transfer-
able. The RFU is now in discussions
with the FIR and Six Nations over
rescheduling the three matches: Italy v
England men, women and Under-20s.
Late October seems the most likely
option.continued from back
I
t may be Wales at Twickenham.
We may inhabit a world where
one defeat has us in the media
baying for blood but Eddie Jones
has taken the less travelled
road as far as selection goes for this
clash.
The injury to Sam Underhill is a
substantial blow. The open-side
flanker is not the most headlined of
the England squad but he is as
important as any single member of
the team. He is the No 7 England have
been lacking for the majority of
Jones’s tenure.
His power in the tackle is one of
the ways that England manufacture
momentum without the ball. He
makes millimetres or more whenever
he thunders into an opponent, ball in
hand, whenever his shoulder and
arms produce that perfect pile-driving
tackle. He was the official man of the
match against Scotland and was very
good against Ireland.
Wales have mixed their back row
up. Two thirds of it are predatory
experts at the breakdown. The recall
of Josh Navidi ahead of the more
celebrated Taulupe Faletau is a
statement of ball-winning intent.
England have lost an expert over the
ball, Wales have gained one. When
England lost the contest at the
collision against France they lost the
game.
Knowing that Underhill was an
unlikely starter this week, the easiest
option for the England head coach
would have been to give the public and
us in the press what we wanted: Tom
Curry back on the open side. Mark
Wilson could have slipped back into
the No 8 role. In 2018 Wilson operated
at the base of the scrum against South
Africa, New Zealand and Australia.
No disrespect to Wales, but
tomorrow’s game hardly constitutes a
step up, ferocious as the nature of the
trans-Severn derby can be.
But Jones has a longer ball game inSport
Stuart Barnes
Curry switch part of a plan
to bridge present and future
place, as much as he may deny it.
Otherwise there are a series of
question marks surrounding the
selection of Wilson at seven. Curry is
England’s second-choice open-side.
The public would pick him ahead of
Underhill, I think the majority of my
colleagues in the media would do so
but during the World Cup the Bath
seven stayed Jones’s seven when he
could just as easily have made the
move across the back row.
Courtney Lawes at six, revisiting his
role against Ireland, Wilson charging
all over the place from eight with
Curry restored to the open side would
have been an easy balance to sell.
Why not? It isn’t a bad back row. But
long term, it should not be the one
Jones envisages. In this future world,
it is safe to say there is probably no
Billy Vunipola. Let’s give the future
foundations. We will call it France.
Place it in 2023.
In that future Curry may just be the
No 8 who has changed the way
England play from the base.
Not as much of the
bullock about him but an
endless energy, an
outstanding attitude in
defence — from one
touchline to the other
— a No 8 who lacks Big
Billy’s heft and is
therefore another lineout
angle in an England team
where this set piece is
becoming central to their game
plan. At least their Plan A.
Wales tomorrow is a game England
and their manager want very much to
win. Yet if he believes he loses 1 per
cent efficiency in the back row for
15 per cent improvement in the years
ahead, it is a sensible piece of
selection. Yes, we all place a certain
set of specialities on most positions
but the back row isn’t an area where
changes are impossible.
Lawrence Dallaglio was selected for
his first eight internationals as a
blind-side flanker. One day his phone
rang and Jack Rowell, then England
manager, informed him he would be
playing on the open side. “Completely
different challenges,” said the World
Cup-winning No 8. He went through
the entire back row without any
excessive damage to his illustriouscareer. Curry broke into the England
team last year owing to one of
those far-too-frequent injuries to
Underhill. He played open-side
against Scotland, Wales, France and
Ireland, with Wilson packing down at
blind-side.
Underhill made a timely recovery
ahead of the World Cup and
reclaimed his position which he
seemed to have sealed after an epic
individual performance against the
All Blacks in 2018. Wilson had done a
great deal right and next to nothing
wrong but he lost the No 6 shirt to
Curry as Jones stuck by his
“Kamikaze Kids”.
Curry is still growing up as an
international. The years remain
formative.
Jones is absolutely right to continue
with his experimental musings. Is
Curry a more likely No 8 for the
foreseeable future than the hulking,
ageing Wilson? Almost certainly. Are
England going to be
considerably weakened — if
at all — against Wales
tomorrow? Probably not.
This appears an
excellent choice of back
row.
Lawes is there to sort
out the opposition on a
one-to-one basis as well
as dominate the lineout,
where Wales have been
vulnerable this season.
Wilson is a physical presence who
can carry solidly and do more than
his share of the work on the ground.
Curry will share the breakdown
duties, offer lineout options and
develop his game for the future, a
future in which Jones may — or may
not — still be leading England.
On the balance of probabilities, he
has picked a team to bridge present
and future, one he adjudges capable
of beating Wales and taking what
has to be unspoken (from his
perspective) steps towards a future in
which few have an interest until it is
too late.
This is not one of his headline-
hogging flights of fancy to which he is
prone. Rather it is one where he has
taken the road slightly less travelled.
It’s a good selection; it should do for
England fans.England v
Wales
Tomorrow, 4.45pm
Twickenham
TV: ITV, 3.50pm
Radio: BBC Radio 5
Live, 4.45pm28 years 1 month
The average age of the
England XV for this
game is almost a year
older than the 27 years
and 60 days of
England’s World Cup
final team. They were
the youngest side to
Sam Underhill, 23, as
Courtney Lawes moves
from five to six; and
Mark Wilson is three
years and one month
older than Billy
Vunipola, who was at
No 8 in the final.contest a World Cup
final. The 12 players in
both XVs are now four
months older. Joe Marler
is six months older than
Mako Vunipola, whom
he replaces; George
Kruis, 30, comes in forMark
Wilson
First start since England
played Italy last
September. He has started
just one club game this
season because
of injuryM k