Matt Dawson selects his scrum-half who should start ahead of Ben Youngs
Rugby NewsSunday, 18 October 2020 at 19:22
England legend Matt Dawson wants Eddie Jones to make a change at scrum-half ahead of the conclusion of the Six Nations and 2020 Autumn Nations Cup.
The 47-year-old, who recently confirmed he's getting a divorce from his partner Carolin, has encouraged Eddie Jones to experiment with his England side in the upcoming tests.
"It’s difficult to second guess anything that Eddie is doing, but it very much looks as though he wants a No 9 who is going to focus more on the man management side, which means the focus is not on the No 9 to be a threat," explained the former Wasps and England scrum-half.
"It would be nice to see whether scrum-halves like Dan Robson can do both - the parts that Ben Youngs does brilliantly while bringing a little bit more exuberance to the game."
"Dan has been in good form for a good few years, I wouldn’t necessarily say just this year,
"The Wasps way has suited him, that fast pace. The team facilitates the way he likes to break as well, to be a threat. There are not many scrum-halves around who can tick that box at the moment.
"It's the way he injects not only a physical pace on the game but a mental pace, the way the opposition have to just pause and wonder what Robson is doing, before they wonder what [Jacob] Umaga or Fekitoa are doing. You take your eye off him and you are in trouble. It’s good to see that type of scrum-half play is still effective."
England have six upcoming fixtures this autumn starting with the uncapped Quilter Cup against the Barbarians (25 October, KO 2pm GMT, live on Sky Sports).
Following a trip to Rome to face Italy (31 Oct, KO 4.45pm GMT, live on ITV) in the final round of the delayed 2020 Guinness Six Nations, England will play four matches as part of the Autumn Nations Cup.
England will play Quilter Internationals at Twickenham Stadium against Georgia (14 November, KO 3pm) and Ireland (21 November, KO 3pm), an away match v Wales (28 November, KO 4pm) before returning to Twickenham for a placing match to determine final position in the competition (6 December, KO 2pm). All Autumn Nations Cup games will be live on Amazon Prime.
England Autumn Nations Cup squad: Fans pick their squad
10,000 England fans have used our survey, which you can still take here, to pick their squad for the upcoming 2020 Autumn Nations Cup.
The players marked in bold received the most votes and would be in the starting XV. Meanwhile, Italics show that a player is currently uncapped.
BACK-THREE
- Anthony Watson
- Jonny May
- Elliot Daly
Ollie Thorley
- Ruaridh McConnochie
- Jack Nowell
CENTRE
- Henry Slade
- Joe Marchant
- Jonathan Joseph
- Cameron Redpath
FLY-HALF
- Owen Farrell
- George Ford
- Marcus Smith
SCRUM-HALF
- Ben Spencer
- Ben Youngs
- Danny Care
LOOSEHEAD-PROPS
- Joe Marler
- Mako Vunipola
- Ellis Genge
TIGHTHEAD-PROPS
- Kyle Sinckler
- Harry Williams
- Will Stuart
HOOKER
- Luke Cowan-Dickie
- Jamie George
- Harry Thacker
SECOND-ROW
- Maro Itoje
- Jonny Hill
- Joe Launchbury
- Nick Isiekwe
- Charlie Ewels
BACK-ROW
- Sam Underhill
- Ben Curry
- Billy Vunipola
- Jack Willis
- Sam Simmonds
- Ben Earl
England starting XV for the Autumn Nations Cup
And using the same poll, here’s how Eddie Jones team would line-up for the first game:
Elliot Daly (Saracens), Jonny May (Gloucester), Henry Slade (Exeter), Joe Marchant (Harlequins), Anthony Watson (Bath), Owen Farrell (Saracens), Ben Spencer (Bath); Joe Marler (Harlequins), Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs), Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins), Maro Itoje (Saracens), Jonny Hill (Exeter Chiefs), Tom Curry (Sale Sharks), Sam Underhill (Bath), Billy Vunipola (Saracens).
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