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Woodward's advice to England after Watson's long-awaited Test return

England's Anthony Watson runs with the ball during last Sunday's match versus Wales (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

After Anthony Watson made his first England appearance since March 2018 on Sunday against Wales, World Cup-winning coach Clive Woodward has said that he needs to be starting. 

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This comes after calls on social media for the Bath player to play at full-back for England, with Elliot Daly reverting back to the wing. Watson started on the wing in Sunday’s win, looking assured under the high ball and strong in defence. 

Although the 25-year-old primarily plays on the wing for Bath, he was the incumbent full-back for England when he sustained an achilles injury in the final game of the 2018 Six Nations that has since required two surgeries and kept him out for over a year. 

In the meantime, Daly filled in at full-back but is perhaps more comfortable on the wing. While he wore the 15 shirt on Sunday, many want to see him swap with Watson.

Woodward seems less concerned with what position either of them play, as long as they are both on the pitch. Both players bring a huge amount to this England team, and Daly has obviously done enough during his time in the 15 shirt to convince Woodward. 

(Continue reading below…)

The new Saracens signing has a kicking game that is perhaps better suited to full-back, while Watson is probably stronger in the air, but what is important to Woodward is that they both start.

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With Jonny May surely set to occupy the other wing, this is shaping up to be England’s first choice back three going into the World Cup.

https://twitter.com/CliveWoodward/status/1160881656561111040?s=20

With Jack Nowell and Ruaridh McConnochie also capable of playing at full-back, Eddie Jones has plenty of options. Joe Cokanasiga is the sixth back three player in the squad, which means there is a lot of competition for places. 

Both Watson and Daly were the starting wingers for all three Test matches against the All Blacks in the 2017 British and Irish Lions series and are probably best suited there. 

While England fans want to see Watson wearing the 15 shirt again, Woodward just wants to see both on the pitch after the pair were selected in the 31-strong squad for the World Cup.

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WATCH: Joe Marler tells RugbyPass that the current England squad is the tightest he has ever been involved with

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S
SK 1 hour ago
Lessons the Wallabies must heed to turn Lions heartbreak into future success

Brett I love your fresh take on the picture that needed to be painted and ultimately wasnt. I agree there just wasnt enough in it for the ref to call it back and ultimately the ref was consistent the whole night at the breakdown. Australia are damned disheartened now but look how close it came to beating a team Campo said would thrash them by 30. This is the perfect prep for the Rugby Championship and the Boks and NZ. The Boks will be able to bring a scary pack to face the Aussies but it will be just as scary as facing these lads and so the Wallabies for me are making progress. They are not quite the finished article and the soft moments and tries and passive defence just proves it. Schmidt was brought in to make Australia better, he was brought in to make sure Australia improved in time for the Lions to avoid an embarrassment and look he has done that and taken them close so while the result is gutting its a job well done so far. lets see if they can take one step further and pilfer a test off these patchy Lions. Just a quick word on refs and the laws. Can we please tell World Rugby to simplify the game. At least 5 or 6 laws were examined in the wake of the last minute cleanout and several said Tizzano should have been pinged, others say Morgan should have been pinged. If former players and refs cant agree on what the right call was then it means the game is too complex. The refs have a clear mandate to let the game flow. I agree with that but the laws must support the refs. Right now they do not and leave too many holes for the refs to plug. The result is a furore after every major engagement between nations where the refs are abused.

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I
IkeaBoy 2 hours ago
'The Wallabies only have themselves to blame': How the Lions sunk Australia in Melbourne

I’m a proud Irishman with a weakness for the underdog. My only stake in the game was an Aussie win to take the series to a decider. Even overlooking the actual clear out - which was the only thing Piardi instructed the TMO to review - I think it’s very easy to be objective and say that Australia got done on the calls.


It’s a phase of play that unfolds in less than 10 seconds but is fairly easy to breakdown.


1 - Ryan (#19 Lions) is tackled legally, goes to ground in possession of the ball but makes no effort to release the ball. He has to immediately once he goes to ground. PENALTY.


2 - Tizzano (#21 Australia) is first man to the ball (from either team) and forms the ruck with his own hindfoot. Side entry doesn’t apply to him as the ruck is not formed at this stage but rather it’s formed by him. NO PENALTY.


3 - Even to completely ignore the actual clear out (penalty/no penalty), foul play can still have occurred without the need for a HIA. The fact that Tizzano is walking around and available for the next match doesn’t mean he didn’t get emptied. His mouthguard data does seem to have registered an almighty force though. 50/50.


4 - Both Morgan (#20 Lions) and Genge (#17 Lions) go to clear out but both do so by driving through the ruck off their feet and falling over the ball. Sealing. PENALTY


5 - I still don’t understand why none of the coverage picks up on this - Morgan holds Tizzano’s feet in a wrap on the pitch after the clear out. On the match clock it’s 79.03 to 79.07 before he releases. Playing the player off the ball. PENALTY


Piardi controls the narrative when reviewing with the TMO and starts on the wrong foot. The discussion is all on the basis that both sets of players arrive at the same time (which changes mitigation around foul play) which they don’t. They clearly don’t as Tizzano is first to the ball.


For 79 mins that match was brilliant. The crowd was brilliant. The atmosphere seemed brilliant. It’s a loss on the sport that a gang of mic’d up officials can not get it right.

179 Go to comments
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