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'The main difference between here and the Premiership is that the physicality of the ball-carrying in France is way, way higher'
By PA
Alex Lozowski insists his exposure to the Top 14’s bulldozing carriers has left him well prepared to face Leicester in Friday’s Challenge Cup final at Twickenham. Lozowski was among a group of players to depart Saracens on loan while the club campaigns for promotion from the Championship and he has spent the season at underperforming Montpellier.
Adversity has stalked the move across the Channel with rigid lockdowns restricting the scope to experience a different lifestyle, while on the pitch the out-of-favour England centre has encountered fiercer collisions in the power-focused French league.
But with Leicester armed with what he views as some of the Gallagher Premiership’s hardest runners, Lozowski is expecting more of the same when Montpellier attempt to salvage their season at Twickenham.
“The main difference between here and the Premiership is that the physicality of the ball-carrying in France is way, way higher,” Lozowski said. “If you look at teams in the Premiership this year, there are nowhere near as many what you would call properly physical ball carriers compared to France where every weekend, before a game, you’re thinking ‘blimey, I’m going to have to tackle today’.
“If you look at back play in the Premiership, it’s a bit more about trying to create space through running lines and it’s a bit more deceptive. In France, every weekend you know you are going to have to tackle.
“Having said that, the few exceptions to the rule would be Leicester players. Guys like Nemani Nadolo, Ellis Genge, Jasper Wiese you’d have down as some of the few properly physical ball carriers in the Premiership.
“And you look at those guys, and you think, ‘I am going to have to tackle tonight’. It’s been a brilliant experience over here. It’s a very different style of play, which takes some getting used to, but it’s going to be worthwhile for me.”
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Latest Comments
Steve Borthwick appointment was misguided based on two flawed premises.
1. An overblown sense of the quality of the premiership rugby. The gap between the Premiership and Test rugby is enormous
2. England needed an English coach who understood English Rugby and it's traditional strengths.
SB won the premiership and was an England forward and did a great job with the Japanese forwards but neither of those qualify you as a tier 1 test manager.
Maybe Felix Jones and Aled Walter's departures are down to the fact that SB is a details man, which work at club level but at test level you need the manager to manage and let the coaches get on and do what they are employed for.
SB criticism of players is straight out of Eddie Jones playbook but his loyalty to keeping out of form players borne out of his perceived sense of betrayal as a player.
In all it doesn't stack up as the qualities needed to be a modern Test coach /Manager
Go to commentsBut still Australians. Only Australia can help itself seems to be the key message.
Blaming Kiwis is deflecting from the actual problem.
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