For the slow headlines of England, it has become the dreaded word 'C'. It is not an improper, but an elusive quality. Cohesion. Ireland has it in abundance and its next opponents once again acquire it.
According to chief coach Steve Borthwick, the problem lies in the concentration of the test talent. In recent times, Ireland has become more or less Leinster with different shirts.
When they align against England here on Saturday, there will be 11 players on the provincial side based in Dublin in the initial XV of Simon Easterby, according to a well established trend. There are three from Connacht and one from Munster; A small gang of strangers at Leinster's party.
What it means is that Irish should start running. It is expected to understand the games and habits of the other; All small signs that reveal their intentions in the field.
In theory, at least, there will be a telepathy that comes from familiarity, especially in the center of decision -making in the middle of the return, now that Easterby has chosen to deliver the shirt No. 10 to Sam Prendergast, to resume his Provincial Alliance with Jamison Gibson Park.
Compare this with the situation in England. His squad is more scattered. While having a deeper group of players to choose from is, without a doubt, an important asset, the task of gelifying with a limited preparation time is a logistics headache.
The chief coach of England, Steve Borthwick, shows himself preparing his team for Saturday's trip to Ireland
The initial XV of England in Dublin on Saturday will feature players from eight different clubs.
In the Aviva Stadium, eight clubs will be represented in the XV of visitors. The various contingents are small, as follows: Sale 3, Bath 2, Harlequins 2, Leicester 2, Northampton 2, Saracens 2, Bristol 1 and Exeter 1. There is no dominant nucleus in anything like the Leinster scale in the green ranges. To what he adds is a less entrenched understanding. It has to be manufactured. Fast.
Borthwick sounded the alarm on this particular problem in the accumulation of the discouraging opening of the six nations on Saturday for their team, against the headlines of the headlines.
“One of the great strengths we have is the Premier League, but it is also a challenge because we spread the players in nine clubs,” he said. 'We are looking for ways to get players to understand themselves more quickly and effectively. That is another reason why there is consistency in the selection, to build relationships and cohesion.
There is that infernal word 'C'. It matters a lot. England does not have the luxury of reducing gears this weekend. They have to start running, fluently, to have the opportunity to cause discomfort. But not only face a possible cohesion imbalance in their first game.
Seven days after his confrontation with the Irish, Borthwick's men will face France's favorites on Twickenham. Like Easterby, and Andy Farrell, when he is not in Lions mode, Fabien Gallehie, his chief coach, can resort to an influential nucleus of a powerful club. The alignment he named this week to face Wales presents eight Toulouse players in the initial XV.
“Our players spread through many clubs, while other countries have more concentration,” Borthwick said. 'The obvious example is Leinster, but Benetton is also with so many Italian players, Toulouse with a large column of the French and Bordeaux team with several backs from France.
'When England has had dominant teams in Europe, think of Leicester and Wasps and Saracenos, they would have large contingents in the England team. It is certainly a factor that helps in international rugby.
Given this context, it may not surprise that England has suffered so many false beginnings in its annual campaigns, especially in the six nations. In 2020, they lost against France in Paris, followed by three successive years when Scotland beat the 'enemy Auld' in the first round. Last year, England exceeded a 27-24 victory over Italy in Rome, but it was as close as they had defeated the Azzurri.
Maro Itoje faces a first fearsome test as the new captain of England since he replaced Jamie George
England had six Leicester strikers on his team on the day for the 2023 World Cup final
Borthwick's 2025 England class has spent some time in Girona before six nations
In the most recent autumn series, Borthwick's team was overcome 24-22 by New Zealand in his first four games. Two years before, they lost their first game of the 2022-23 season for a point at home to Argentina, which accelerated the game of Eddie Jones. This is a persistent problem.
At this time, there is unusually even propagation of players from several clubs in the national team. In the 2019 World Cup final in Yokohama, England had six Saracenos in its initial XV, including a strong column of Jamie George, Maro Iteje, Billy Vunipola and Owen Farrell.
They were the dominant club of the time and promoted that crusade of the Far East. When England won the World Cup in 2003, they had six Leicester strikers on their team of the day for the final in Sydney.
After Warren Gatland took over Wales the first time, in 2007, he launched his mandate choosing 13 Ospreys players to start on Twickenham and surprised England to light a Gloria de Grand Slam position. The implementation of established units is a ploy to save time.
In several junctures, England has tried to accelerate the search for cohesion, relying on club combinations. Danny Care and Marcus Smith played together. Sometimes, Alex Dombrandt would also be added, so there was a Harlequins connection at 8-9-10. He returned further and Ben Youngs would often be associated with George Ford in the middle of the back, as they did for so long in Leicester.
Borthwick would have carefully considered the potential benefit to choose Smith in conjunction with its lateral kick from Northampton, Alex Mitchell, for this next game. But that benefit would have been surpassed by Marcus Smith's recent game time with the axis of the Henry Slade-Landlie Lawrence field.
According to Martin Gleeson, who served as England attack coach in the last phase of the Jones era, the rush to achieve short -term cohesion means that it is necessary to simplify the messages. “There is not much time and everyone comes from different clubs, so you must play in a way that suits your strongest players,” he said.
'You must concentrate on the most important things that will give you victory. There is not much time, so it must focus on certain key areas. You cannot cover each part of the game, so you must remove everything from the basics and make sure they are exploding. You cannot expect to meet and be good immediately in all parts of the game. So, you must keep it simple to start. You can't complicate things too much.
Sam Purgast will begin in the middle of the fly for the delicious confrontation of Saturday with Ireland
England will begin at six nations as third favorite third parties to win the title, behind France and Ireland
When England arrives at the camp of its various clubs, without a long time to prepare, it is necessary to accelerate the reintegration and linking process, encouraging different factions to mix in the meals and throughout the team of the team. Gleeson, who is now back in the Rugby League in Warrington Wolves, added: 'There are many things like that, but sometimes I think there may be too many forced things. Good teams bind organically.
'If you take that unit to your team, naturally, then you get hard to overcome even when you don't play well. But it is difficult; Trying to obtain that, in a way that everyone works for each other and is not false and forced. How you take advantage of that could reach the leaders. Itoje is Captain now and it's just a business. He loves him. It is so diligent and will not take anything, but it is also a good guy.
The promotion of Itoje to the Captaincy could have an impact on the dynamics within the Team of England. But there have also been important changes in the systems behind the national team, which provide more scope for the early organization.
It was Lawrence, in a conversation with Mail Sport last week, who suggested that the meeting of squad and marginal players in the so -called alignment camps was helping England's commitment to start well, with a better cohesion. The new professional association association between clubs and the RFU allows Borthwick to be greater access to their key players and means that certain strategic principles could be described before the training prior to the championship began seriously.
During the year of Jamie George as a patron, England's players were encouraged to have more contact with each other outside the trial windows, hoping to improve understanding, challenging all the demarcation lines of the club.
On Saturday, if the centers work more effectively and can be better linked to Marcus Smith to find space, then all efforts behind the scene will have been worth it. But they will be fine to match the cohesion of Ireland. “We are a crucial part of the team's flow within a game,” said Lawrence, about the pairing of the center of the field. 'Towards the back of autumn, we talked about the fact that we were not shooting in all cyclintics. We feel that it improved in the last games.
In terms of finding a flow in how he and Slade interact with Smith at age 10, Lawrence added: 'Marcus can create something from nothing and you start collecting the signals. We have to reach the same page as quickly as possible and that is the benefit of these camps. We have had continuity for a while, so you start picking it up faster every time you return to the camp.
England will need to have collected it faster than ever, or risk being left by the hosts dominated by Leinster on Saturday. The leading province of Ireland has won the 14 games they have played so far this season, which will surely translate a feeling of impulse next to Easterby, which means that they also have an additional advantage over English, as well as much of that ' C 'word.