England cavaliers Cipriani and Easter must hope Lancaster changes approach
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Version 0 of 1. Stuart Lancaster has opened the Six Nations door to Danny Cipriani and Nick Easter, we are told, talking to the former and planning to speak to the latter before the England head coach announces his elite squad next Wednesday. Sale have been eager for Cipriani, who was left out of England’s autumn campaign with Owen Farrell, George Ford and Stephen Myler picked ahead of him at fly-half, to be invited back into the national fold as they look to tie him down to a new contract. The Sharks fear that without the lure of international rugby, and the World Cup later this year, Cipriani will help himself to some of the money blanketing the club game in France or develop a yen for Japan. The problem for the club’s director of rugby, Steve Diamond, is that there is no vacancy at 10 for England even on the bench, with Ford proving himself in the autumn and Farrell well established. Cipriani will be involved with the Saxons when they play the Irish Wolfhounds in Cork at the end of the month. Matches between the sides in the past have tended to reflect unfamiliar units coming together with limited preparation time. Freddie Burns wore the 10 jersey for the second string last year and where is he now? Lancaster chatting to Cipriani and planning to speak to Easter, who has not been part of the England setup since the last World Cup, is interesting in that neither player is a comfortable fit into the mould the head coach has created. England have been more roundhead than cavalier in the past three years, the personification of their victory over Australia at the end of the autumn series being the bloodied, limping but unbowed Brad Barritt. Lancaster has a problem at No8 because Ben Morgan broke his leg last Friday. Do England revert to Billy Vunipola, who was dropped after two lacklustre performances in November, have another look at Thomas Waldrom, the Premiership’s top try scorer, or shift James Haskell? Memories of Cardiff two years ago are likely to mean Tom Wood is considered only at flanker. While Ford gave England a few extra options when he replaced Farrell at fly‑half two months ago, he is not as much of a cavalier as Cipriani who, for all the work he has put into his defence and discipline, remains someone whose instinct sometimes make him forget his lines. Easter is a No8 in the Zinzan Brooke mould, a clever forward with the ball skills to match. He is a perfect fit at Harlequins, where Conor O’Shea gives his players a licence to thrill, but there are clubs where offloading is regarded as more of a sin and risk-taking is frowned on. At 36, Easter still has something to offer England but by talking to him is Lancaster paying lip service to a player in the headlines (and the same with Cipriani) or is he looking at ways of evolving England’s game after the matches against New Zealand and South Africa showed a lack of creative spark? Easter’s pass to Danny Care last Saturday, which helped turn the match against Leicester the way of Harlequins, was worth the price of admission. It would have been easier for him to go to ground having been double-tackled, but he not only stayed upright but manoeuvred himself into a position to slip the ball to the onrushing Care. Passing and offloading were not features of England’s forward game in the autumn but will that approach get them out of a World Cup pool that includes Australia and Wales? It will probably suffice in the latter stages, with finals especially not renowned for outbreaks of ambition, but they have to get there first. A prime reason that Cipriani was left out in the autumn was that Myler was regarded as the more accurate goal-kicker and a better manager of a game. Sale argued that Cipriani was being penalised for not being part of a team contesting for the title but, while that was not an argument served in a colander, Lancaster would have had a long look at Cipriani on tour in New Zealand last summer. What next week’s announcement and the Six Nations will show is whether there has been a shifting of plates within the England camp. Lancaster has long talked about the points of difference in players, that is the exceptional qualities they have. He has not put points of difference high on his priority list, unlike defence, for example; perspiration ahead of inspiration. Will the autumn persuade him to loosen the ties that bind? If so Easter and, to a lesser extent, Cipriani have a chance of featuring in the Six Nations. |