England wing Max Malins shocked by reasons for omission in Six Nations
Max Malins admits it came as a shock when told by Eddie Jones that he was being dropped by England during last year’s Guinness Six Nations because of his body language. Malins marked his first international appearance since being axed with a two-try salvo in Saturday’s 29-23 Six Nations defeat by Scotland, a performance that helped heal the wounds inflicted a year earlier.
Having appeared in all four championship matches in 2022, the Saracens wing was unexpectedly discarded before the trip to France and given an explanation he found hard to process. “My body language in a walk-through - that was the reason given,” said Malins, who upon missing out on the subsequent tour to Australia went on a three-night holiday to Mykonos with team-mate Ben Earl.
“I didn’t understand it. I was taken aback by it. I’d like to think my attitude was always there. He may have seen something… I’m quite a relaxed guy, not necessarily buzzing around the place all the time. Maybe my relaxed nature put a thought in his head.
“It was certainly a shock at the time and you don’t tend to understand it straight away. It was gutting at the time. When you’re in that shirt and it gets taken away from you, it’s a tough one to take.
“All you can do is take a step back from it and move forward. I had to take it on the chin, reflect on it, and move on. It certainly highlighted to me how quickly it could be taken away and how you should never take being in this environment - being in camp, playing for England - for granted.”
Jones has since been replaced by Steve Borthwick after the RFU reacted to a dismal 2022 by sacking the Australian and appointing his former number two. Borthwick’s faith in Malins, one of the Premiership’s most clinical finishers, was given immediate justification with the Scots unpicked twice by the Bristol-bound 26-year-old.
“Steve has made it clear that we are here because of club form. He asks us to go out there and express what we are good at. He doesn’t necessarily highlight your downfalls,” Malins said. “He obviously wants you to make improvements, where you can, but his big thing is asking us to show what we can do and show your strengths. It’s pleasing to hear and gives you confidence as a player.”
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Barnes is on the board of the RFU as referee representative. The Referees Union who wrote the letter calling for a Special General Meeting over the pay of execs/losses and more made mistakes. A symtom of a good letter is that you can stand behind every line in it as factual. While there are several good points in their letter they allowed a few ill thought out rants. This meant that the Board via Wayne Barnes can undermine the letter by focusing on the inaccuracies which weakens the real points. I'm not saying Barnes is acting untoward, he's not, he is concerned about refs showing hypocricy and he is also defending the RFU.
The Referees position is weakened simply by not being able to write a proper letter.
This is not untypical of sporting organisations and representatives at all levels.
Go to commentsYes, it will become much harder to target an opposing scrum now, which is why I think having a solid rather than dominant scrum will be enough for teams in the future. While the impact of the 30 second law is still to be fully felt, the free kick law has already had an impact. I can't imagine the Boks taking many quick taps from free kicks in the past. They would have taken a scrum to work a penalty or continue their 'slow poison' on the legs of the opposition. With that option off the table the scrum has already become less important as a weapon.
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