Tom Curry impressed in the back row for England

I’m afraid I don’t have all the stats to back up this claim, but by my reckoning this was the most inexperienced England XV, let alone match-day 23, ever to take the field.

Sure, it was an uncapped match and they were up against the Barbarians (a side renowned to doing their hardest training in the bar rather than on a pitch) but this was still an immensely impressive and promising victory, one which might have helped Eddie Jones to unearth a few of those rough ‘diamonds’ he is looking for.

Two things particularly impressed me. The first was how this young pack stood up to the vastly experienced, all-star Barbarians forwards. To see 18-year old Tom Curry (only called up at the last minute when his twin Ben was injured and on early because of an injury to Sam Underhill) go toe-to-toe with 80-cap, former world player of the year, Thierry Dusautoir and the exiled ‘answer to England’s openside woes’, Steffon Armitage, and come out on top was a wonderful sight to behold.

The second was the flexibility and way the team adapted under pressure. As mentioned, Curry was thrown into the fray early and never looked out of place. The back-line also had a total reorganisation at several stages. Alex Lozowski had to leave the field injured and on came Mike Haley, normally a fullback, in the centres. Mike Brown needed a head-injury assessment, suddenly Richard Wigglesworth was making his England return and Danny Care was out on the wing. If any of this fazed this young side, they hid it well and showed maturity and composure to emerge as winners.

Here are six England players who stood out for me.

Tom Curry
What were you doing age 18? Taking on two of the best flankers of the past decade at Twickenham? As mentioned above, it was a joy to watch this combative young flanker duel with the experienced combo of Armitage and Dusautoir. He never seemed over-awed by the occasion or the celebrity of the players he was up against, and it was particularly encouraging to see him get in their faces and push them around a bit like an old-school enforcer. Although I wouldn’t have given him the man-of-the-match award (Ford for me), this was still an excellent all round contribution. Underhill is still likely to get the nod to start in Argentina (should he overcome his shoulder problem) but in the two of them, and Curry’s twin Ben and Will Evans at Leicester, England seem to have a plethora of young openside talent for the first time in years.

Ellis Genge and Will Collier
Next are the two props, Genge and Collier. The Barbarians pack was loaded with multi-cap, world-class players. Some may argue that they were a little long in the tooth and their best days are behind them, but that is not usually the case with props, who like wine only get better with age (having said that, Mikheil Nariashvili is only 27 but has 39 caps for Georgia and plies his trade pulverising scrums for Montpellier in the Top14). On Sunday, the two rookies, Genge and Collier, won the heavyweight contest against Nariashvili (who was eventually yellow carded for scrum infringements) and Samoan legend Census Johnston, while Scotland’s WP Nel and all-black Ben Franks were the similarly talented Baa-Baas replacements.

England’s scrum has creaked at times over the past couple of years – in particular, Argentina dominated them in the Autumn test at Twickenham last year. So to have two young props come through such a stern examination of technique against a cohort of experienced opponents will put a particular smile on Jones face. That is not even mentioning their excellent contributions in the loose (Genge in particular is a monstrous ball carrier). And all while England’s four first-choice props are off in New Zealand with the Lions. A hat-tip to replacements, Ross Harrison and Jamal Ford-Robinson as well. England’s depth at prop looks promising.

Mark Wilson
At 27, Wilson is a relative pensioner compared to some of his colleagues in the pack making their first appearances for England. However, after joining the fray at number eight, Wilson produced a performance that was physical and thoroughly irritating for the opposition in equal measure. Just what you want from your backrow forwards. I see Wilson more as an option at blindside than at eight based on the way the main England team has been operating with their primary ball carrier (Vunipola or Hughes) at the back of the scrum, but Wilson looks an excellent alternative to Robshaw or perhaps as a versatile bench spot going forward.

Nathan Earle
Jones has made no secret of the fact he wants a little more size in his backline. And with the midfield operating on a dual playmaker model, he sees the wings as his way of including that. Both Semesa Rokoduguni and Marland Yarde don’t seem to have quite won Jones over, hence Saracen Nathan Earle’s call-up, alongside fellow ‘big lads’ Sale’s Denny Solomona and London Irish’s Joe Cokanasiga.

On Sunday, Earle delivered for England. Barely having made a handful of appearance for his club side yet (he was in New Zealand turning out for Canterbury at the start of the season), Earle looked right at home on the Twickenham turf. His balance and footwork were sharp and he has excellent pace, scoring a try and providing a constant threat off his wing. On the other side, Jonny May continued his frustrating habit of not looking like he knows where he is going, despite his blistering pace, so if Earle can back this performance up in Argentina, he will be primed to join England’s three Lions wings in the senior squad.

And… Alex Goode
One other England player deserves a mention. But he was playing in the white and black of the BaaBaas on Sunday. Alex Goode produced his usual classy and composed rugby for the invitational side, and for my money was the better of the two England fullbacks on display. I know he doesn’t quite fit Jones’s vision of an England fullback, and the tour of Argentina is being used to uncover exciting new talent – maybe Jones feels he knows everything he needs to about Goode already – but I still think Goode has a place in the England set-up. Hopefully this is not the last time we will see Goode on the pitch for an England game.

Who impressed you at the weekend?

By Henry Ker