Right now, England's best proven back row is one of Croft and Wood, Robshaw and Morgan. You then have Vunipola on the bench, as that switch has been very effective, and as England are dead without a strong ball carrier somewhere in there.
I am not satisfied with that. I don't really get where its strengths are in an aggressive game plan - it's not a ball carrying back row, it's not a linking back row or one with pace to burn if we get loose (unless you make Croft one of the players), it's not a really big strong back row that can help dominate the tight. So something should change.
Lets talk about openside first. If we want to play a wide expansive game then we need to look hard at replacing Robshaw with Kvesic. I don't think we can play one of those well anyway, so I wouldn't do that. I might consider Kvesic anyway, but the reality is he needs to show he's a better option in general at international level, and he is running out of games in which to do so. Lancaster has been an idiot here. However, it's been done, and Armitage needs to come home to be talked about, and so I'd prepare to go into the next World Cup with Robshaw at openside.
So, blindside. If I haven't made it clear enough, I drop Wood. That's harsh and not entirely deserved, but the fact is the back row balance is wrong, and if one of Robshaw and Wood lose, it's Wood. The only circs in which I'd keep him is one in which we had a front five like this - Vunipola/Corbs; Youngs/LCD; Cole; Attwood; Launchbury - that is, one in which there are enough carriers and jackals to pick workhorses in the back row. I don't see us picking a tight five like that anytime soon, so that's out.
To me, the choice becomes - someone like Croft or Johnson, to add more pace and loose carrying and support; or someone like Haskell, Fearns, Garvey, maybe even Burgess... a second big carrier who adds more strength to the maul. Haskell's probably a compromise between the two sets.
If I'm honest, I'm considering plumping for Haskell. He is incredibly hard working, he carries well, he has a bit of pace, he jackals well (when it occurs to him) and links nicely. He has the experience too, which is something I very much want at this stage.
The following back row - Haskell; Robshaw; Morgan (Croft) - I feel is a good one. It's hard working, it's got a fair bit of gas, it's got two strong ball carriers, two reasonable jackals (Launchbury's proto-6 nature will come very much in handy here mind)... then you've got Croft to punish a game that really opens up. That's the other thing about someone like Haskell - you don't have to have both Bill and Ben. I feel Fearns is the next best option for this game. The idea is for England to hammer midfield mainly and find holes there. It seems to be where we're at our strongest. So yeah, I'm picking my back row to fit the current plan.
Going forwards... going forwards the challenge has to be for other men to prove they are better than the incumbents. There's a lot of potential and guys you could get excited about, but I don't see the point in speculating too much before we know who's going to put themselves forwards at the time.
