By Charlie Elliott
England A play their first game in nine months, when they face Australia A on Sunday 17th November at Twickenham Stoop. Head coach Mark Mapletoft and captain Fraser Dingwall spoke positively about the week they’ve had, and what they expect from Australia.
Australia A drew to Bristol Bears last week but have made wholesale changes since then. Mapletoft, who lifted the Under 20 World Rugby Championship trophy earlier this year, admitted that he has limited knowledge about Australia’s playstyle, but insisted that his side were completely focused on their own game.
“With a short period of time and boys coming in from a lot of environments, the main focus of the week is around us and what we want to go out and getting everyone on the same page, understanding what this week is about, the opportunity in front of us, but also that Australia are going to pose a threat.
“I’d say mainly the focus has been on ourselves, getting everyone together in a short period of time and identifying maybe a couple of key things they might be looking to go after.”
With Northampton Saints centre Fraser Dingwall being amongst a group of five in the squad who have been capped at test level, he spoke about his role with the younger players:
“Within this week we’ve had a good blend of people with experience in test rugby all the way through to lads who haven’t played Prem rugby.
“It’s good to have that blend within the squad.
“For those who haven’t been capped to those who are more regular within the Prem they have taken more leadership roles, been able to guide things a bit.
“Everyone’s bought into what we are trying to do and hopefully it accumulates into a good weekend for us.”
With the dynamic between capped and uncapped players potentially being seen as a stumbling block for cohesion, with players being at different stages of their careers, Mapletoft spoke about how this isn’t the case and how exposure can benefit his players:
“There are a number of capped players within the group, a number of player who played against Portugal last February, a lot of regular Premiership players, there are players who have stepped out of being involved in the 20s, there are players still involved in the 20s. I think that whole alignment piece is a key component of any pathway system.”
“So we’ve tried to identify players in a particular moment who would benefit from a particular exposure. I think most senior players will tell you the biggest difference between playing age group and Prem, England A and seniors is the speed that everything’s played at. Some players are able to deal with that a bit better than others.
“We have tried to balance between presenting the right opportunities at the right time for certain people but making sure the quality in training is high enough that we won’t get caught on Sunday.”
When asked about the main aim of this setup, he said:
“For the younger lads it’s good to stay attached and maintain contact. Often there can be a year or two, Fraser can allude to that.
“There can be a gap of up to three years between exiting a programme and establishing yourself as a Prem player or a full international.
“It’s very important that you keep the link between the two.”
Fraser Dingwall is someone who many believe hasn’t been given a fair chance by England, having only made two test appearances but arguably having the quality to warrant more. He spoke about how this setup can help him break into the first team, and the benefits he has seen already:
“I don’t see any way where it isn’t going to help people with getting back into the squad.
“Any time you’re taken out of your club environment and exposed to different coaching, working with different coaches and players, it’s an opportunity to develop and hopefully you put yourself forward in an England shirt and a great version of yourself and hopefully that pushes the case for yourself to be included in further things.”
When asked specifically about the threat of Australia, Mapletoft admitted that he had little information on their squad but insisted that it would not be an issue:
“I don’t know much about their coach and how much is filtered down from Joe, who hasn’t been there long. We all know Joe well from his time up here, in France, with the Irish teams as well. You know what you’ll get from his style of play, but don’t know whether it will be filtered down.
“They’ve played one game against Bristol, which we watched, and the lads watched. They’ve made wholesale changes from that game so any individual prep, that’s brilliant, because there’s loads of new people playing.
“As Fraser alluded to earlier, it’s about us, yes our job as coaches and players, we have to be respectful of what is being offered up to us, but we haven’t got too sidetracked by it because ultimately we only have a short period of time to get prepared as best we feel is possible.”
