The press and the Twittervurse have been abuzz since the announcement by England’s Head Coach, Steve Borthwick, that he’s benched Owen Ferrell in favor of starting Marcus Smith at fly half for Saturday’s Six Nations Match at Twickenham.
Yet, the Verse remains silent about the biggest story of Six Nations round four, Rafters attendance at its first match between England and France. After a 0.000034 second long search, Rafters can’t find the story anywhere. Imagine that.
In order to protect Rafters’ fan from the apparent shadow banning of this monumental story, we’re here to fill you in on all the important details. Here goes; Rafters is attending their first match between England and France this Saturday.
Borthwick’s call
Rafters was delighted and surprised to learn about Borthwick’s decision on Thursday, especially since so much was made of George Ford’s call up and Smith’s release from England to play for Harlequins in last week’s Big Game 14 verses the Chiefs.
This week, Borthwick recalled Smith to start for England at number ten following a much needed and excellent eighty minutes with Harlequins, relegated Ferrell to backup, and sent Ford back to Sale.
There are a lot of questions to be answered about England’s lineup, and many egos on the line. Borthwick’s decision to go with Smith is a brave one since it’s the first time Ferrell has been named as a replacement in his forty seven appearances for England.
On paper England is one of the most talented teams in the world, and egos aside, its Borthwick’s job to experiment with player combinations, and clearly the 10/12 experiment of Smith and Ferrell didn’t work as hoped.
Ferrell is clearly the more seasoned player and the more versatile of the two. By that, Rafters means that Ferrell can slide out of fly half more easily. He is also the more conservative of the two especially compared to Smith’s golden-retriever-puppy style of running.
That’s not a dig against Smith. He’s a great player and fun to watch, but if Borthwick has to pull Smith from Saturday’s game, the amount of Monday-morning quarterbacking will be off the charts.
Kicking will be the decider on Saturday.
While Ferrell’s poor kicking hasn’t cost England a match yet, he’s left a lot of points on the field in the first three rounds, and in a low scoring match, which is what Rafters expects on Saturday, Ferrell could be a liability. On the other hand, Smith is the hottest kicker in the Premiership.
In defense, Ferrell has also missed more than one third of his tackles since the Six Nations began. Smith has a few to his tally as well, but not nearly the percentage that Ferrell has.
With the decision made, or taken as they say here in England, all the speculation about Smith and Ferrell won’t matter a damn until around seven o’clock on Saturday evening when Borthwick will be either a genius or a goat.
The Game
As for England and France, neither team is playing up to their potential.
With the World Cup in there backyard this summer and riding a twelve game winning streak coming into the tournament, Rafters expected France to roll through the Six Nations with a Grand Slam.
A month later, we’ve seen France seriously challenged by Italy, lose to Ireland, and not quite dominate a Scottish team that slow roasted England in round one.
Unfortunately, Rafters can’t say England has been any better. They’ve won the two games they should have won (Italy and Wales) in two so-so performances and lost to Scotland, a game they could have won.
(Note that both wins came with Smith riding the pine for over seventy-five minutes, and the loss came with the 10/12 Smith Owen combo).
With all that said, Saturday’s game with France could set the tone for England over the next seven months and into World Cup 2023. Win with Smith at ten and a new order may be established. Lose with Smith and Borthwick may find himself back in the laboratory to reformulate his personal experiment by calling Ford back from sale to start in Dublin and sending Smith back to Quins.
Rafters Prediction
At the risk of sounding like an England homer, which Rafters is, we’re going with an England win by a score of 19-12 over France.
That’s one fan’s view of Rugby from beyond the rafters.
Afters
If you are interested in watching the Six Nations and Premiership Rugby in the United States (live or replays), you can stream all the matches on Peacock. Xfinity includes Peacock with some cable subscriptions.
Flo Rugby offers replays of the Autumn Internationals, USA Rugby, the Rugby Championships, and Super Rugby.
The Rugby Network broadcasts the MLR for no charge,
Fine Print
Other than a customer, Rafters is not affiliated with any league, team, or streaming/cable service.