England Needs Simon Shaw and a Fall Back To Old Era

When looking at Shawsy’s rugby resume, it makes perfect sense to have the London Wasp and Lions lock recalled straight into the English team to face the All Blacks at Twickenham.

The big man has done it all.  Playing for Wasps for well over a decade, he was won Heineken Cups, Premierships, Powergen, and Tetley Bitter Cups.  He has worn the colours of a British and Irish Lion, and has an MBE for his role with England’s 2003 World Cup winning team (although he was not officially part of the 30 man squad).

He has even kicked a first class drop goal.

If you were to look closer, you could be deceived when you read that the man was born and raised in Nairobi, Kenya, until you see the second row forward in the flesh. 

He is arguably one of the biggest men ever to have graced a rugby field.  Standing comfortably over two metres tall, and close to 20 stone (over 120 kg) it was almost ironic to hear him lead the voices saying that rugby players have become too much like gym monkeys.

Few could hope—even with genetics, supplements, and years of heavy training—to even begin to come close to the presence that the “gentle giant” exudes.

But he is far from tender on the rugby field, and being cut from the same cloth that Martin Johnson is made from, could be part of the missing link that England requires.

Until their horror injury toll subsides, England will not be able to fulfil the attacking promise they showed during this year’s Six Nations.  Two of their key backline generals, Riki Flutey and Delon Armitage, were the spark plugs for their offensive engine.

For all of Jonny Wilkinson’s gifts, he is not a true running field marshal, especially without elegant midfield support.

Which Northampton Saints back Shane Geraghty is failing to provide.

But irrespective of having a casualty ward numbering close to 30, England needs to forget about reinventing the wheel and look at what they can achieve with their current personal.

When thinking about it, it is surprising that we have not really seen this from Johnson’s men.  A fall back to the glory days when they weren’t fancy, played one of the most basic game plans, but was uncompromising in an almost terrifying manner.

It was no coincidence that when Peter Jackson made his Lord of the Rings trilogy, his first casting call went to the old England forward pack to play the part of rampaging Orcs.

From a combination perspective, the best unit that England can field is in the back row.

James Haskell, Lewis Moody, and Tom Croft could probably be the first choice English loose forward trio even if they had every single player in the country fit and playing.  If Simon Shaw was playing alongside Steve Borthwick, it would give England five men in the forward pack that could win a large portion of the game.

For all of Borthwick’s critics as a captain, if he was partnered with a fellow grizzled lead from the front second rower like Shaw, one feels that he could truly shine.

Most telling for England, if one looks at their numbers relating to forward performance, they could, and should, be troubling any team in world rugby.

Against the Wallabies they dominated the rucks, losing only two of their own, and forcing Australia to concede nearly 10.  England had 15 line outs, and lost only one. 

In the match against Argentina, they also ruled the battle of the ruck (although many of their turnovers in this area were from mistakes), lost only one of their own throws and scrums, and caused the Argentinean set pieces a little bother.

England’s most glaring weakness at this time is failure to work as a unit, but the pieces are slowly falling into place.

Case in point Haskell, who normally plays flanker for Stade Francais, and is often guilty of playing as a one man act.  But working alongside Moody, there were promising signs that this England pack could work as a solitary armoured division.

And with Shaw leading the vanguard, England could truly trump their critics, and at the very least give the All Blacks a fright.

For all of New Zealand’s talents, they are not particularly fond of tight arm wrestles, and realistically this is the only way the home team could gain parity with what is an improving and will likely be a full strength All Black team.

But the question is do England realise this?