As England and Steve Borthwick move into Round Four of the 2025 Six Nations, next up is Italy, a team that are very much on the up, despite shipping 73 points against a rampant France last time out.
Former England number eight, Chinnor director of rugby and US Eagles performance director Nick Easter found himself coaching a young Fin Smith during his time at Worcester Warriors and believes that Smith will be the key man to take England into the 2027 Rugby World Cup.
Points of difference
“Tell me something,” Easter asked. “What two things does virtually every team who’ve won the World Cup in the pro era have in common?”
“Simple,” he continued. “They had the best defensive record at the tournament, but absolutely crucially, they had a brilliant defender in the ten channel, a man not scared of mixing it with the big carriers, someone able to close down that key 10-12 route off early phases.
“Larkham, Wilkinson, James, Carter and Pollard – all biggish guys for fly-halves who punched well above their weight in defence, especially in the case of Wilko and Butch.
“I’ll leave 2011 out as that was an outlier due to the injuries the Kiwis had at ten, but even then Stephen Donald wasn’t too shabby in defence.
“But my point remains – the closing down of that straight line carrying channel was absolutely vital for all of the teams that achieved success in this period,” Easter confirmed.
Genesis
“You could go back as far as 1991 when Rob Andrew really set the agenda for workrate in defence for a ten. Whilst he had his critics at the time, Rob was a really effective and pragmatic fly-half, but it was his tackling and appetite for the big hits that really set him apart. He’ll claim that his own attacking limitations meant he worked hard on other aspects of his game, but in 1991 he, and also Michael Lynagh, (both met in the 1991 final) really evolved the role of the stand-off as a defensive asset.
“If you then look back at sides that have been really successful in professional times, the theme continues. During the great Springbok run in the late 90s nobody was more fearsome than Henry Honiball, a man built like an openside flanker and someone so renowned for his defensive work that his nickname was ‘Lem’ (the Blade) for his ability to scythe opponents down,” Easter recalled.
Evolution
“At his best and when fit, Romain Ntamack, a man who is surprisingly big at almost 6’2” and some 15 stone, is a defensive rock for France, and Johnny Sexton, the brains behind Ireland’s revival in the 2010s and beyond, was another man not scared to roll his sleeves up and make a few hits for his team.
“With Dan Biggar shining for Wales, another man not shy of the grunt work, and of course, Owen Farrell scowling and snarling for England, a man who simply dared others to run down his channel, it’s easy to see that the sides winning at the very highest levels are the ones that have a ten that works both sides of the ball.
“Double world champion Handre Pollard might also be more from the conservative role of fly-halves in attack, but as a defender, he’s a crucial part of the Springbok system, and woe betide anyone who skives their defensive duties under Rassie, or with Eben Etzebeth in their team! ‘D’ is a key part of that Bok culture, a culture created by peer pressure and shared values of physicality and put simply, if you don’t make your hits you won’t last long in that set up,” Easter concluded.
Here and now
“In the modern game, we often hear the word ‘flaky’ bandied around in regards to tens, and more often than not, that’s down to the defensive ability of a fly-half at the highest Test level, an environment where every weakness will be identified and exploited, both by backroom analysis and by on-pitch intuition.
“If you look across the board in this season’s Six Nations, you’ll see a massive contrast in success and the tens that are making their hits are the men thriving, generally,” noted the defensive specialist.
“Missed tackles tend to cloud statistics; in simple terms, the more tackles you attempt to make, the more you fly out of the line to exert pressure, the more you will miss. Sometimes, particularly in a blitz system, that rush to the carrier alone can be enough to slow attacks down, even if you miss the execution – it is all about defensive intent.
“It’s all about tackle completion in my view. If you take Matthieu Jalibert, Finn Russell or Marcus Smith, all of those guys are in the sub 60% completion bracket. Two of those players have fallen by the wayside as Test fly-halves this season, whilst Russell has been less effective than in previous seasons without the defensive skill of Sione Tuipulotu alongside him. Sam Prendergast has a high number of missed tackles (15) but his completion is still in the 70 per cents,” Easter explained.
“Whilst Romain Ntamack leads the field with 100% from his seven tackles against Wales before his red card, easily the most impressive performer is Fin Smith – a man operating at some 85% but averaging 15 tackles a match, figures that a Test centre or back-row wouldn’t consider too shabby.”
Fin’s difference
“Working with Fin Smith at Worcester, it became clear to me that he had a real drive to do all things well. We often talk in the game about being the best at ‘zero skill’ tasks – getting off the floor and back into the line to go again, defensive system surety – things that don’t require skill but do require willingness, work rate, concentration and fitness – and Fin subscribes to that mantra.
“His attacking and intellectual skills are of the highest order, make no mistake about that, but it’s his work ethic and understanding of what it takes to be truly world class that sets him apart. Scotland and France both found out that running down his channel gives little return on investment and he’s become particularly effective at holding players up in the hit to allow support to arrive.
“With England facing Italy on Sunday, don’t be fooled by the result we saw against France in Rome. When Les Bleus get their mojo going they can blow sides off the pitch, and that’s exactly what we saw in that match,” Easter observed.
“Italy didn’t play anywhere near as badly as the scoreline suggested and at times, their brilliant centre partnership of Nacho Brex and Tommy Menoncello caused France some real issues. Interestingly, that was generally down the 10-12 channel where Brex takes the ball really hard into the defence faces and then will either slam into contact or has an arsenal of cut back passes or deft offloads, as we saw for the Menoncello try.
“Italy will test England’s D down the middle, of that you can be sure. But this is one of England’s new found superpowers with Fin in that moderated push system, and you can be sure he’ll continue his defensive excellence – something that England will need in abundance if they’re to avoid the banana skin of this fixture against a very good Azzurri side.”
READ MORE: Six Nations Round Four: Fixtures, kick-off times, referees and global TV channels
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