WHO SHOULD BE ENGLAND’S No 9 FOR RWC 2023?
THE WORLD CUP is no longer in the past. It is looming in the future. Before the July Tests against USA and Canada, Eddie Jones made this very point. The ambition of youth was about to take on the virtues of experience. That was then, this was now.
Nowhere does this belief impact on the mindset of the England coach more than at half-back. Marcus Smith represents a bold future; George Ford and Owen Farrell a tentative past. The choice of ten will set the tone for England’s 2023 bid.
Yet the decision at fly-half is no more important than that at scrum-half. produces the odd moment of darting magic but the quality of his overall game has long deserted him. As far back (and beyond) as the 2019 World Cup final, the erratic quality of his service has
