Bagshot: What should have been a serene week of Calcutta Cup preparation for England is proving to be the opposite. Even the beautiful spring weather in Bagshot could not distract from the untimely training ground knock suffered by Owen Farrell, nor a strange, prickly press conference grudgingly given by Eddie Jones.
Any undercover Scottish visitors would have gone away feeling faintly encouraged.
Farrell is expected to be fine but, either way, England are currently in slightly edgy mode. That is almost certainly Jones’s deliberate objective: to jolt his players out of any complacency and encourage them to assume more responsibility rather than hiding behind their head coach’s extensive collection of bon mots. Before each of his side’s three matches so far, he has talked a good game, only to find himself relying on the last-quarter impact of his bench players and the squad’s collective fitness.
The unspoken message this week, accordingly, is that England cannot bank on retaining their title unless they harden up mentally, crank up the intensity and bristle a little more.
No matter that, if Wales beat Ireland in Cardiff on Friday evening, England could end up clinching the championship a week early if they see off the Scots. Nor does Jones want to dwell on the possibility of England equalling New Zealand’s tier one record of 18 successive Test wins, for all the inner satisfaction that would generate among red rose supporters. “All we’ve got to do is play well on Saturday, that’s all we’ve got to worry about,” Jones said, refusing to be drawn on what he views as extraneous concerns.
This blunt party line was faithfully backed up his captain, Dylan Hartley, who veered in the direction of hyperbole only once when he suggested: “This week has been all about sharpening the axe for Scotland.”
If that was a specific reference to England’s cutting edge in the first halves of their recent matches, few would disagree there remains scope for improvement.
With the British and Irish Lions coach, Warren Gatland, also in evidence at Pennyhill Park to cast an eye over tour possibles for New Zealand this summer, there is certainly a growing onus on England to start playing like champions, having been flustered by Italy and, by Jones’s own admission, forced to play a get-out-of-jail card against Wales in Cardiff.
Once again, they will also have to start this weekend without one of their talismans, the management having decided Saracens’ Billy Vunipola is not quite ready, after all, to wear No.8. The selection of the big man alongside his brother Mako on the bench, while ominous on paper, is a further incentive to Scotland to throw absolutely everything they can muster at England early on.
In that regard the most influential name on the England team sheet, which includes predictable returns to the starting XV for Jack Nowell, Jonathan Joseph and Ben Youngs, may well prove to be the loosehead prop Joe Marler, looking after the No.1 jersey on the occasion of his 50th cap.
With Hartley and Dan Cole having already passed that milestone, England’s front row will boast 193 caps of experience compared with Scotland’s meagre 52 and Hartley clearly hopes Marler’s technical expertise will seriously inconvenience his young opponent Zander Fagerson.
“You guys must see how technically good he is, how big and strong he is physically and the way he bangs people in games,” Hartley said. “At scrum time, he’s brilliant. For someone who’s had a few ups and downs along the way, it’s also testament to his character that he’s knocking on 50 caps this week.”
Should Farrell end up not making it — Hartley, who shares a room with him, is confident the fly-half will be fit — George Ford would take over the goal-kicking duties and Ben Te’o would slot into the starting midfield, with Alex Lozowski the next fly-half off the rank.
Given Jonny May and Henry Slade are out of the match-day 23, with Bath’s Anthony Watson poised to feature for the first time since last summer’s Australian tour, there is no disputing England’s strength in depth even if a sickness bug suddenly descends on the camp between now and kick-off.
Then again, there is no doubting the exhilarating rugby Scotland have delivered, particularly close to their opponents’ line. They have scored seven tries in three games without having yet played Italy, while England have touched down nine times including six against the Azzurri at Twickenham.
Hartley says his side made a conscious choice in Oxford last week to crank things up and be more ruthless while they are winning rather than idly meandering towards an ambush: “If we don’t, the other option is complacency: sit still and just let it happen. Then what happens? You lose, you get a kick up the arse, you go away and think: ‘We’ve got to work harder.’ We asked the boys to make a choice. I don’t need to tell you what the answer was.”
This week there has also been renewed debate about the historical context of Swing Low, the negro spiritual adopted as an unofficial Twickenham anthem by England fans in the 1980s, but Hartley and his players will not care what the crowd sing as long as they maintain their long unbeaten record. As Jones has clearly decided, soothing press conference words will count for less this week than stirring on-field deeds.
