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Hooked up: Steve Thompson
© Diarmid Courreges |
The fact
five of England's 22 to take on Australia today currently
ply their trade in France has not gone unnoticed this week.
The RFU
made it plain back in the summer that
players moving across the Channel
could be putting international aspirations at risk,
and yet here we are a few months later and more than 20% of
England's match day squad earn their baguette in Top 14.
The
return of Toulon's Jonny Wilkinson was anticipated once he
proved his fitness, but recalls for Brive's Steve Thompson
and Stade Francais' James Haskell were less certain.
Thompson's team-mate Andy Goode was also included, while
Biarritz's Ayoola Erinle has the distinction of being picked
for the first time only after moving to France.
Injuries
had their say in Martin Johnson's selections - as they
always will with a sport such as rugby - but the 'out of
sight, out of mind' theory proposed by former Brive and
England winger Ben Cohen plainly isn't ringing true.
Johnson
is a fast-learning rookie coach, but he's always been a
handy mix of ambitious and pragmatic. He wants to win and
will do what's necessary for the best of the team. That
means picking the best available players at his disposal to
meet the current England blueprint.
Scaremongering by Rob Andrew, among others, was rife after
Haskell announced his transfer to Stade Francais, on the
same day as club colleagues and fellow internationals Tom
Palmer and Riki Flutey confirmed their moves to France.
There was much talk of English based players getting
preferential nods and how logistically incomprehensible it
would be to board a plane or train to France for the
national selectors.
Of
course, that wonderful invention 'the television' has helped
travel-phobic selectors to keep an eye on Top 14, while
Johnson proved one man is bigger than the island by jumping
on a plane and flying to Paris for the Stade Francais v
Brive game.
In so
doing he saw for himself that Top 14 is currently populated
by some extraordinary talents - Haskell's back row
team-mates include the supremely gifted duo of Sergio
Parisse and Juan Leguizamon - with the league ever more
competitive following the arrival of moneyed clubs such as
Toulon and Racing-Métro 92.
Haskell's return must be particularly satisfying for the
former London Wasps star for it was the 24-year-old who bore
the brunt of the media's criticism when a raft of England
internationals decided to opt for a French sojourn. Former
England and Wasps captain Lawrence Dallaglio led the
attacks, claiming (among other things) Haskell was too young
to move, and that it was all about the money.
The often one-eyed views conveniently forgot
not only the standard of rugby these guys would be playing,
but also the fact that living and working in another country
broadens the mind. This can be just as important as the
on-field stuff in shaping an individual, something that has
been borne out by all five French-based players involved in
today's game.
Wilkinson, Thompson and Haskell have
repeatedly said their respective games
have improved since making the switch. Indeed,
the latter described himself as feeling "like a new player"
in an interview with The Mirror this week.
"It
makes me smile that I made the right decision for me because
when I made it there was a lot of pressure. I never tried to
get out of the move but I did think long and hard about it
when people started talking about the end of my England
career because playing for England is the reason I play
rugby," he said.
"I had
my reasons and I explained them repeatedly but all people
were interested in saying was that I was going for the
money," added Haskell.
Thompson
spoke about how the French move had also proved positive for
himself and Wilkinson when he reflected on their respective
recalls during the week.
"We sat
down in the pub last week - I had a beer and he had a coke -
and we were just talking about the whole experience," said
Thompson. "He's much more relaxed and happy, and he's a bit
like I was perhaps - he had all those injuries at Newcastle
and a lot of pressure. Now he's more happy-go-lucky. He's
still got that focus, but he looks as if he's got more of a
balance, and that goes for me too really."
Goode
was recalled to the England squad during last year's Six
Nations, and in so doing set the precedent for French-based
players being included. It was his own form at Brive that
earned him the opportunity, much like Erinle's at Biarritz
this season, and confirmed what England fans had been hoping
- if not RFU officials or worried club owners. Namely, that
Johnson would pick his players on merit not geographical
location.
Now they
have to repay that faith, starting with Australia at
Twickenham today.
England starting XV v Australia:
U Monye (Harlequins), M Cueto
(Sale Sharks), D Hipkiss (Leicester Tigers), S Geraghty
(Northampton Saints), M Banahan (Bath), J Wilkinson
(Toulon), D Care (Harlequins), T Payne (Wasps), S Thompson
(CA Brive), D Wilson (Bath), L Deacon (Leicester Tigers), S
Borthwick (Saracens, Capt), T Croft (Leicester Tigers), L
Moody (Leicester Tigers), J Crane (Leicester Tigers)
Replacements: D Hartley (Northampton Saints), D Bell
(Bath), C Lawes (Northampton Saints), J Haskell (Stade
Francais), P Hodgson (London Irish), A Goode (CA Brive), A
Erinle (Biarritz Olympique)
