As one of our favorite times of the year kicks off this weekend, the Autumn Nations, we look ahead to what should be a cracking series. In the first of two instalments, we look at the fortunes of England and France in relation to the progress of their two domestic competitions, the Premiership and the TOP 14 so far this season.
England will be looking to show New Zealand, who’s boss at Twickenham, but will ultimately want to knock World Champions South Africa off their Perch
England and their supporters will be relishing this Autumn Nations series, as they get back to back duels with New Zealand, England, and South Africa in that order. They will have been disappointed to come just shy of tilting windmills in New Zealand this summer, but will be heartened by some strong performances at times in this year’s Six Nations, most notable of which saw them deny the current number one ranked side in the world Ireland, a Grand Slam.
Despite its ongoing structural and financial difficulties, the English Premiership has produced some cracking rugby so far this season, and as a result, England Coach Steve Borthwick has been spoilt for choice when it comes to selection. Individuals like Ben Earl from Saracens who have become such a force in England’s back row were no doubt at the top of Borthwick’s list. This series, is also likely to shed more light on who his starting number 10 is likely to be for this World Cup cycle.
Despite Bath finding themselves at the top of the Premiership table, they feature slightly less in Borthwick’s selection priorities than some of the other teams with Borthwick having a genuine penchant for packing his forwards with representatives from fourth placed Saracens, with the irrepressible Ben Earl likely to be in the thick of everything. In the backs, he tends to favor players from Northampton despite the fact that the Saints are having a rather poor start to their season so far sitting 7th on the Premiership log. However, the debate as to who is the fairest fly half of them all will continue to rage between the equally talented Marcus Smith of Harlequins and Finn Smith of Northampton.
Overall, there is a fairly consistent representation of much the same group that traveled to New Zealand in the summer, but also some interesting new faces. Northampton’s quartet of George Furbank at fullback, Fin Smith in the hotly contested fly half berth and Tommy Freeman and Ollie Sleightholme out wide clearly provide England with some attacking grunt, alongside Saracens centre Alex Lozowski who we’ve always felt is a seriously underrated player, and who has sadly been overlooked on too many occasions by England selectors. Expect some genuine excitement from Exeter winger Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, who looks to be the next big thing in England’s back line. Leicester Tigers scrum half Jack van Poortfliet is back in the mix though for us the jury is out on whether or not he really is the way forward for England in the number nine jersey or whether it should be Harry Randall from Bristol Bears.
Up front England remain relatively unchanged from the summer tour to New Zealand, though Sale’s Curry Twins make a return from injury and Charlie Ewels is also back from the casualty ward at Bath, though we do have concerns about his discipline at times. However, for us, it’s Leicester’s George Martin, who is one of the most eye-catching components of England’s forward pack. The loose forward was consistently impressive in New Zealand this summer, and at only 23, this will be a player to watch in this World Cup cycle. Perhaps even more exciting is the new found phenomenon of Harlequins loose forward Chandler Cunnigham-Smith. The dynamic 21 year old has had a meteoric rise through the ranks since joining Harlequins and made a huge impact off the bench against Ireland in the Six Nations and also during England’s tour to New Zealand this summer. Allied with England’s one man panzer division in the shape of Saracens Ben Earl this will be a player to watch.
This weekend’s game against New Zealand will be a highlight of England’s autumn schedule, and they will be desperate to prove that their two losses on tour to the Men in Black were as close as the scorelines suggested. They will want to make the point that Twickenham is their version of New Zealand’s Eden Park and that they are tough to beat on their hallowed ground. However, for us, we imagine their biggest and most anticipated Test awaits on November 16th when they face the World Champions South Africa. The Springboks are on an almost irrepressible roll since the World Cup, with only Argentina and Ireland raining on their seemingly unstoppable parade this year. South Africa have denied England World Cup glory in the last two iterations of the tournament, and surely there is just more than a hint of a score to be settled here, especially on England’s home turf. We don’t think it’s likely but, if England were to pull off a clean sweep of their four Autumn Internationals with wins over New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Japan, then their Six Nations rivals will have been well and truly warned come next February!
Can the excitement of perhaps the best club competition on the planet, France’s Top 14, translate itself onto the International stage once more?
While we tend to follow in detail the URC due to its international flavor, there is no denying that we try to make a point of catching action when we can in France’s outstanding domestic competition the TOP 14. Agreed the finances that this competition seems to have at its disposal help make it such an exciting product replete with numerous international superstars, but there is no denying that it produces some of the most scintillating club rugby on the planet. If you don’t believe us, catch the highlights of table topping Toulouse thrashing Toulon this weekend.
Consequently, there are very few surprises that the bulk of Coach Fabien Galthie’s side is comprised of players from the two teams that are dominating the table in the TOP 14, Toulouse and Bordeaux Begles. While Toulouse dominates the forward selections, Bordeaux takes the lions’ share of the backs. Naturally Toulouse’s extraordinary scrum half Antoine Dupont is in the mix although his club halfback partner Romain Ntamack is sidelined with injury. However, look out for Nolann le Garrec from Racing 92 who is chasing hard on Dupont’s heels to be his deputy and who is likely to feature as the starting 9 for the Japan game and possibly even the Argentina fixture. We’re also fascinated to see if Antoine Frisch, who consistently shone for Irish province Munster, but now has returned to his homeland and is making some noise at Toulon, is able to lay down a marker in the blue jersey.
Without having watched much of the TOP 14 we’re intrigued to see how France’s forward pack fare, but in general Fabien Galthie and his Coaching staff have been able to consistently source a mobile yet highly physical set of forwards, and there are plenty of big names in this autumn’s selection such as Gregory Aldritt, Charles Ollivon, Anthony Jelonch and so the list goes on and on. One player we think might burst onto France’s radar this autumn is former France U20s World Champion Captain and Montpelier loose forward Lenni Nouchi. The young man will turn 21 the day before France play Argentina this November, and we have a hunch that we are going to be seeing a lot of his name mentioned in French press releases over the course of this World Cup cycle.
There is little doubt that France will be placing huge emphasis on their game against the All Blacks on November 16th, especially as it is still unfinished business from the World Cup in their eyes as having beaten them in the Pool stages, many expected that it would ultimately be a rematch in the Final. It will be their biggest game of the November series for France, especially as contests between the two at the Stade de France have produced some genuine classics in the last few years. However, could Argentina, if they fix their issues with consistency, also produce a contest for the ages a week later? France will need a strong November to set them up for a solid Six Nations campaign, which, although they finished second this year, left them with more questions than answers at times. The World Cup hangover and resulting bitter disappointment that came with it should definitely be behind them now, so expect to see a French side that could genuinely be the finished product in Australia in 2027 really start to shine.
We’ll be back with the URC countries including South Africa next!
The Lineout 