Return of the Back (-Row Dominance)
Reflecting on the successful England teams of yester-year, the backrow has been a key defining factor in their success. ’03 was Richard Hill, Neil Back and Lawrence Dallaglio. The 2019 World Cup Finalists we had Tom Curry, Sam Underhill and Billy Vunipola.
Make no mistake, I am not comparing England’s backrow to the backrow of England’s world cup winning team, but this backrow has the right balance and looked brilliant on Sunday. Ludlam provides a safe lineout option and destructive tackling and carrying, Willis was given effectively free roam to poach and did this well. Dombrandt worked as a lineout option, and did make 70m off 12 carries (https://www.sixnationsrugby.com/report/five-star-england-beat-italy-for-first-win-of-borthwick-era#match-stats), but was overshone by his backrow colleagues and was replaced shortly after the hour mark.
This backrow looked good, Willis especially looked great. I previously thought it was madness to include Ludlum, and equally as mad to not start Earl, but this week has cemented the flanker pairing for me. Ludlam made 22 tackles and Willis made 21 (https://www.sixnationsrugby.com/report/five-star-england-beat-italy-for-first-win-of-borthwick-era#match-stats), this work rate is hard to compete with.
The forwards in general looked in control of the game from the start. From the very first lineout, where the ball was played to Lawrence who smashed up the middle, the forwards new exactly what was going to happen and where to be.
It is this direction which will come with experience, but England showed glimpses that this is developing in the right way. The scrum, despite dubious refereeing decisions against both sides, worked well and the maul looked the best it had in a long time. The essence of Steve Borthwick is starting to shine through the team.