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Jack van Poortvliet the big winner as England name 29-strong squad
By Liam Heagney
Jack van Poortvliet has emerged as the big winner in the latest England Guinness Six Nations squad announcement, as his performance last Sunday for England A versus their Irish counterparts in Bristol has resulted in him displacing Ben Spencer in Steve Borthwick’s latest senior team assembly.
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Spencer was part of the squad of 36 that gathered last week at Pennyhill Park to prepare for the round three Six Nations win over Scotland, but van Poortvliet has now moved ahead again in the packing order.
His inclusion has left Spencer to return to Bath, one of the seven Gallagher Premiership clubs involved in this weekend’s Premiership Rugby Cup quarter-finals along with Ealing Trailfinders, the sole Championship representative.
The Bath scrum-half was one of eight players from last week’s Calcutta Cup squad not included by Borthwick in the reduced squad that assembled in York on Wednesday for a training camp ahead of the round four clash with Italy on March 9 in London.
Sale props Bevan Rodd and Asher Opoku-Fordjour were also released for club duty, but five other players will have their progress monitored in York separate from Borthwick’s main training group.
Tom Curry, Ben Earl and Ollie Lawrence are not injured but they are all on a modified training programme this week and are expected to train fully next week at Pennyhill. Tom Willis, who exited the win over Scotland with a concussion, is undergoing his graduated return to play and is expected to be available for full training next Tuesday.
Meanwhile, George Martin, who cried off the England bench last Friday with a knee injury and was replaced by Ted Hill, will undergo further tests this week and an update will be issued in due course regarding his availability to face the Azzurri.
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England training squad
Forwards (15):
Fin Baxter (Harlequins)
Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers)
Alex Coles (Northampton Saints)
Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale Sharks)
Chandler Cunningham-South (Harlequins)
Ben Curry (Sale Sharks)
Theo Dan (Saracens)
Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins)
Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears)
Jamie George (Saracens)
Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers)
Ted Hill (Bath Rugby)
Maro Itoje (Saracens)
Henry Pollock (Northampton Saints)
Will Stuart (Bath Rugby)
Backs (14):
Oscar Beard (Harlequins)
Elliot Daly (Saracens)
Fraser Dingwall (Northampton Saints)
George Ford (Sale Sharks)
Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints)
Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints)
Harry Randall (Bristol Bears)
Tom Roebuck (Sale Sharks)
Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs)
Ollie Sleightholme (Northampton Saints)
Fin Smith (Northampton Saints)
Marcus Smith (Harlequins)
Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers)
Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers)
• Rehabilitation (5): Ollie Lawrence (Bath Rugby), George Martin (Leicester Tigers), Tom Willis (Saracens), Tom Curry (Sale Sharks), Ben Earl (Saracens).
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England need George Martin back, if he’s fit. Ollie Chessum is an excellent lock but he brings something different to Martin, and is arguably too similar to Maro, ie. the athletic lock. One thing that didn’t work well last Saturday was ruck speed. Martin is the proverbial big lump and clears rucks all day. I prefer him at tight head lock, Maro at loose head lock, and Chessum at blindside, so you still have the lineout option. Add T. Willis at 8, again assuming he is fit, and Earl or a Curry at 7 (other on the bench), and you have a balanced looking back 5 to the scrum.
I agree on 4,5, & 6 (although given Chessum can play tighthead lock and Itoje can’t, I wonder if the ideal scrum set up would have Itoje at 6 and Chessum and Martin at 4 & 5?) but I think Earl & T. Curry are so good that both should be starting.
Chessum, Martin, Itoje, T. Curry, & Earl is an excellent set up for the lineout, but is also probably the best defensive lineup England can put together, and the best jackaling lineup they can realistically put together. They’re missing a traditional no.8, but (i) England aren’t playing a gameplan that relies upon that, and (ii) Earl, Martin, and Chessum are actually really good carriers anyway.
The England scrum half selections are baffling.
I can only assume that Spencer murdered Borthwick’s granny and JVP has photos of Wigglesworth cavorting with farm animals
or maybe JVP is 10 years younger and has performed better in international rugby?