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Mercer opens up on his 'debate' with Borthwick after Six Nations snub
By Josh Raisey
Zach Mercer has been quite outspoken about his ongoing England omission and, as a result, there have been fears that he has sabotaged any chance of working his way back into Steve Borthwick's plans.
The 26-year-old has not taken his World Cup, Guinness Six Nations or even his England A snub lying down, and has publicly questioned how he has been handled, particularly regarding having so little time to prove himself in camp with England before the World Cup last year.
Borthwick has not shied away from the topic either, and has publicly addressed the former Top 14 player of the year's omission and his reasoning behind it.
Mercer recently revealed what those discussions looked like from his side when joining The Rugby Pod this week. The No8 suggested that his relationship with the England head coach may not be as frayed as some might have thought, saying that his communications after missing out on the Six Nations were "very constructive".
While he did confess that he does not exactly know where he stands in the pecking order of England back rows, he added that he does not think he is "far away from the squad".
"To be honest, we were very open and honest with each other about it," the two-cap international said.
"He just said in the Six Nations the balance of the back row didn't fit me in it. Obviously I disagreed with him, but it was a very constructive conversation. It wasn't one-sided or I just accepted it or he just accepted it. We had a bit of a debate, which is always good.
"I wouldn't say I'm far away from the squad, but I don't really know where I stand in that pecking order at the moment.
"But it doesn't really fuss me at the moment. If I don't play for England again, I'd be devastated but I have done it, I've done it twice already so no one can take that away from me."
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Latest Comments
Yes that’s what WR needs to look at. Football had the same problem with european powerhouses getting all the latin talent then you’re gaurenteed to get the odd late bloomer (21/22 etc, all the best footballers can play for the country much younger to get locked) star changing his allegiance.
They used youth rep selection for locking national elifibilty at one point etc. Then later only counted residency after the age of 18 (make clubs/nations like in this case wait even longer).
That’s what I’m talking about, not changing allegiance in rugby (were it can only be captured by the senior side), where it is still the senior side. Oh yeah, good point about CJ, so in most cases we probably want kids to be able to switch allegiance, were say someone like Lemoto could rep Tonga (if he wasn’t so good) but still play for Australia’s seniors, while in someone like Kite’s (the last aussie kid to go to France) case he’ll be French qualified via 5 years residency at the age of 21, so France to lock him up before Aussie even get a chance to select him. But if we use footballs regulations, who I’m suggesting WR need to get their a into g replicating, he would only start his 5 years once he turns 18 or whatever, meaning 23 yo is as soon as anyone can switch, and when if they’re good enough teams like NZ and Aus can select them (France don’t give a f, they select anybody just to lock them).
Go to commentsThe only benefit of the draft idea is league competitiveness. There would be absolutely no commercial value in a draft with rugby’s current interest levels.
I wonder what came first in america? I’m assuming it’s commercial aspect just built overtime and was a side effect essentially.
But the idea is not without merit as a goal. The first step towards being able to implement a draft being be creating it’s source of draftees. Where would you have the players come from? NFL uses college, and players of an age around 22 are generally able to step straight into the NFL. Baseball uses School and kids (obviously nowhere near pro level being 3/4 years younger) are sent to minor league clubs for a few years, the equivalent of the Super Rugby academies. I don’t think the latter is possible legally, and probably the most unethical and pointless, so do we create a University scene that builds on and up from the School scene? There is a lot of merit in that and it would tie in much better with our future partners in Japan and America.
Can we used the club scene and dispose of the Super Rugby academies? The benefit of this is that players have no association to their Super side, ie theyre not being drafted elshwere after spending time as a Blues or Chiefs player etc, it removes the negative of investing in a player just to benefit another club. The disadvantage of course is that now the players have nowhere near the quality of coaching and each countries U20s results will suffer (supposedly).
Or are we just doing something really dirty and making a rule that the only players under the age of 22 (that can sign a pro contract..) that a Super side can contract are those that come from the draft? Any player wanting to upgrade from an academy to full contract has to opt into the draft?
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