Why Nick Easter Should Play for England this Autumn
“Nick Easter should play for England.”
That is what Conor O’Shea said after watching his side beat Leicester Tigers at Welford Road, in a performance full of conviction and glorious intent that will have unnerved those wishing to wrestle the Premiership crown from Harlequins next May.
His statement of support was more than just an open letter to the attending Stuart Lancaster and Graham Rowntree. Nick Easter had another exceptional game that was the latest in a line of strong performances from the back of a Quins pack that has impressed in all four league outings so far this season.
Easter played an important part in the build up to the game’s only try and epitomises what makes Harlequins so good at the moment. Hard and direct running lines flood the channels with a quick offloading game that simply eliminates defenders from the game. By keeping the ball off the floor and getting over the gain line several times in succession, even if just by half a metre, it nullifies the opposition’s back row and doesn’t give the defence time to settle.
This style of play is what England need to be playing in 2015 to even consider taking back the Webb Ellis Trophy. The modern forward needs to be more than a scrummager/jumper. A consummate back row player could be given a run out at inside centre and shouldn’t look out of place.
England are gradually moving away from the stereotypical style of scrummage-and-kick-to-victory but they are a young side and still developing. No one is expecting the 34-year-old Easter to still be around in 2015, barring some Simon Shaw-esque longevity, but sometimes you need to bring an old head in.
When Lancaster took over, everyone knew that he was selecting players for the next Rugby World Cup and Easter was one of the victims of the cut. Reports of saying “that’s £35,000 down the drain” after England were knocked out of the 2011 Rugby World Cup deepened the wound and increased the distance back to an England squad at the time fraught with a poor public image.
A relatively quiet period and a strict hand regarding Danny Care has rebuilt confidence in the national side and the England team has moved on. Defeat in South Africa was made more palatable by a strong work ethic and never-say-die attitude. But the current incumbents of the England No. 8 jersey haven’t quite met expectations.
Ben Morgan of Gloucester wasn’t caught in the headlights but he didn’t raise his game to meet the ferocious bombardment of the South African forwards that was several steps up from what he faced in the Six Nations earlier this year.
This allowed Thomas Waldrom to at last make his debut. The Leicester Tigers man is nicknamed ‘Tank’ and it is quite apt given how he plays. But he is typical of a Leicester side that were nullified by Harlequins at the weekend and shamed in comparison of their loose play. Time and again Leicester forwards clattered the ball into contact, found the floor and the fight in the ruck ensued. Meanwhile Easter, Robshaw and the Quins pack offloaded constantly and kept Leicester at arms length for the 80 minutes. Leicester weren’t bad by any stretch and are likely to be in the Final once again, but it was just that Harlequins were another level beyond them.
Jordan Crane was actually wearing the 8 shirt for Leicester that day, a talented Englishman in his own right, but he struggled in comparison to Easter. With a greying beard, the Quins man knows his strengths and weaknesses now. A key part of the 8,9 10 axis, he’s never going to romp down the field like Pierre Spies but he is incredibly effective at taking the ball with momentum into the defence and using his Fairy Liquid soft hands to ship the ball on.
Lancaster favourite Phil Dowson also has excellent handling skills and is an outstanding Premiership player and leader for Northampton. Yet he has still to prove himself to be a top class operator rather than a solid squad man to call on when it comes to the Red Rose. The fact it took him until 30 to make an England debut unfortunately says more bad then good.
Therefore, for the here and now, Easter is the man that should be pulling on the new Canterbury strip this autumn. Compared to his peers, he is first amongst equals at the moment and will offer a guiding hand in a side still raw when it comes to playing the best teams in the world.
Morgan seems to be the forerunner for 2015 and there is no harm in making him fight for the shirt against someone who has been there and done that. Waldrom too will be around the squad and despite being older is still new to the international scene.
If Easter does get the call from Lancaster he will be more than aware he is a short term fixture, there to galvanise not just Morgan and Waldrom, but to help those on beside him in the scrum, the Toms, Johnson and Wood, who are also making their baby steps into the international game.
Rugby is full of journeymen out for the quick buck before retiring. But you get the occasional player who galvanises the youngsters around him. Matt Burke at Newcastle Falcons and Rocky Elsom at Leinster are two that spring to mind. As long as Easter is interested for the glory and honour instead of the appearance fee and win bonus then England could do worse than given the Londoner one more go.
Let us know how you think things are going in the comments below or on Twitter either @TheRugbyBlog or to Jeff personally @BallinTouch
By Jeff Ball
Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images
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good point with the subs, assuming lawes is in our top 3 lock order we could have an emergency back rower there. he has the skillset to be a decent replacement. as long as its him doing the ripping this 6n!! has he played there before?
Yeh Lawes p[lays at 6 pretty regularly for Saints as well, in fact I believe he played there last weekend. So yes that is true. I would say Haskell would be an excellent option from the bench, he offers both the ability to play all three back row positions and also would be a good impact player.
Just saw the Joubert comment. I may be wrong but I believe the date that he becomes available is come time in November so I imagine the six nations will be the first time that he is considered. Someone please correct me if they know otherwise?
Easters non selection had nothing to do with ability but was more about attitude. You can bet that it was Easter who was one of the older guard who mocked the younger players for being too keen when doing training. Easter when playing for England could be brilliant or anonymous and was too often the latter. He had 47 caps to cement his place. His time has passed and we need to move on.
That’s a big assumption. Do you really think Easter would have lasted 3 years under O’Shea with an attitude like that? Easter’s old school, politically incorrect, and not to all tastes. But if he mocked hard work, it was almost certainly ironic.
Have you seen Easter over the last few years? He always looks like he’s staggered out of a pie shop straight onto the pitch. I suspect his talent (and I’m not denying he has any) persuades his coaches to look past his short comings.
This kind of conceipt is not an entirely based on assumption either. I remember the interview he gave after the 2007 wc win over Austrailia. Full of vitriol and spite against the media (and fans) who had slated England and not given them a chance of winning. After a mediocre win over USA and a complete thrashing at the hands of South Africa, England were deserving of such stick. Easter showed a complete lack of class or humility in not recognising this.
Absolutely Benjit!
I’m a big fan of haskell and used to be more so but he is behind almost every penalty england give away when he is on the pitch, i always think a sub back rower should have the ability to steady ship at the breakdown and help us get territory. Im hoping whoever is picked can bring these qualities or our ability to close out close games wont improve. suppose it goes back to picking the best in each position, and putting 2nd best on the bench. at 8 morgan is probably there with wood on the bench for back row. if he outplays robshaw as a replacement he will get thw start spot as lancaster hass shown with last 6n
ahhhhh i just can’t agreeeeee man. Easter might be in form now. But Morgan needs all the time he can get in the shirt moving forward to 2015.
Hi Nick
Sorry, what I meant is I haven’t seen AS much of Joubert, and hadn’t been watching him with a view of playing for England. The other players have at least played in the Premiership for longer or played for England at top or Saxon levels and thus have been more visible. Plus the fact he is South African and it is only recently the whole England eligibility has sprung up means though I have seen him be excellent at the back of an at times awesome Sarries pack, he hasn’t been on my radar as much as others.
Joubert is 32 and given Lancaster’s approach to over 30′s, seems unlikely to get the call. His selection would go against England’s longer term strategy. Shame as a few years earlier and no reason he ‘couldn’t have done a Botha’
Plus Joubert doesn’t have 47 England caps and played in a World Cup Final…
Joubert has been in the premiership longer than Waldrom, and been around way before Morgan. Fair enough if you only follow international rugby you won’t know much about him but you also won’t know much about England’s other options at eight.
However I agree he probably won’t and shouldn’t get much of a chance with England.
I think Easter is probably one of the most solid go to men in the premiership and he’s done that roll for England at times. There may be a slim chance for him to make the squad but I highly doubt that, especially as it seems Lancaster has set his elite and Saxons squads for the year.
I think at the moment Morgan and Waldrom are our best options, and going forward it’s who we should stick to. However if you were looking for a different style of 8, there is a certain Saffer who I believe is now eligible to play??? Step up Ernst Joubert???
And before you start saying but he’s South African, Waldrom is a Kiwi I believe.
It seems I was a bit late with my Joubert comment, and didn’t realise he was that old. Bloody good player though, and offers something different. Very good at staying on his feet.
Learn from the Quins management team? Yes
Take Easter? No. His time has come and gone – I was never a fan; slow, didn’t break enough tackles and I saw plenty of handling errors from him (“soft hands”! Balls!)
I’m the most die hard of Harlequins fans out there, and whole heatedly agree that Easter is the form Number 8 in the Aviva Premiership at the moment.
However, what most comments have failed to take into account (and what this article alluded to slightly) was the quality of the 8, 9, 10 axis at Quins at the moment.
Crane and Waldrom were both eclipsed by Easter last weekend, and it would take a very bias Tigers fan to argue otherwise.
However, the experience between Evans, Care and Easter and a returning Crane, an unfamiliar face at 9 and an inconsistent Flood is quite a bit.
Easter has been quality for Quins, and no one can take that away from him. But one of the true signs of a quality player is when they are playing on the back foot. Would Easter be doing so well if he was playing at Worcester or Sale right now? This was the case a few years ago.
Easter was playing in a club pack which was nowhere near as good as this one, and everyone was slogging him, saying he was a half-hearted player and never took the step up for England.
Now he has a solid base to push from the back of and poach for gaps around the breakdown.
Any position is hard to play on the back foot. That’s where Easter spent most of his England career. Just because we have some kind of stability in the front five, it doesn’t mean we can call on the old guard.
Easter is a good player but he has also had his chance. We need to ahow faith in the younger players, lancaster to his credit has so far.
With wood, wilson, croft coming back, johnson, and robshaw a must there is plenty of competitipn for the backrow,meven if 8 is a problem. Let waldron and morgan battle for the spot, I still think 7 is our biggest problem, Robshaw has done a fine job but I would prefer an openside and blindside that are good on the floor.
In the summer scotland played with 3 openside flanker in the backrow, showing the importance of the breakdown.
All the all blacks backrow are good on the floor, this is priority number one.