English Rugby: Help from Hot Pants, Georgians and David Moyes

It would seem the England management are leaving no stone unturned in their preparations for Saturday’s Six Nations match against Scotland at Murrayfield as they aim to retain the Calcutta Cup which they won in emphatic fashion last year at Twickenham.

First came the news that the ever inventive Eddie Jones had enlisted the help of Georgia in a live forwards training session last week. This included scrums and lineout practice and from the feedback from the likes of England’s Joe Marler it seems as if the England pack learnt a lot from going head to head against the tough Georgian pack.

Further proof of the innovations come from reports that England’s replacements will be once again be wearing battery operated trousers to help keep them warm on what is expected to be a cold winter’s day at Murrayfield. England’s replacements have already made use of the “hot pants” in their last match at Twickenham against Wales.

More unthinkable though is the news that Scot David Moyes, who is currently manager of West Ham United football club, will be linking up with the English Rugby Squad today to give them advice. What advice that may be who knows but it won’t be the first time they have had input from the round ball bosses as previously Manchester City’s manager Pep Guardiola was also invited to spend some time with the squad. Although it does seem odd that a proud Scot Moyes would agree in the first place to try and help the Auld Enemy in their preparations for a match against his countrymen.

One wonders whether England are going to these lengths simply because they can with their vast financial resources or is Eddie genuinely concerned about his team’s prospects against Scotland. One thing Scotland can expect is a big battle against a heavy England pack as Jones has brought back loose forwards Nathan Hughes and James Haskill who will both add extra ballast to his pack. Jones may chose to go with a macro set of loose forwards should he pick Courtney Lawes to start in the backrow with Hughes and possibly Chris Robshaw, with the heavy Haskill waiting on the bench to replace Hughes who is not long back from injury. Jones also has the option of using Maro Itoje as a loose forward although his preferred option against Wales and Italy in this year’s Six Nations was to start Itoje at lock and Lawes at flank.

It will be interesting to see if Scotland’s Gregor Townsend persists with his rather lightweight flanker pairing of wily captain John Barclay and energetic Hamish Watson. At least it is good to see Townsend has brought big Josh Strauss back into the fold and I would expect him to start alongside Ryan Wilson and only one of Barclay or Watson in the backrow to try and combat England’s bulk. Given that Barclay is the captain he surely has to be more likely to start than Watson who would do a good job with his pace and work rate from the bench. Townsend also needs to consider whether he would rather try and fit David Denton into Scotland’s back row after a good cameo from him against France.

Georgian Pack help England in training:

Joe Marler described England’s scrum session with Georgia on Tuesday as ‘worthwhile’ and labelled his counterparts ‘tough blokes’ as England continue their quest to become the best pack in world rugby.

Steve Borthwick’s men took part in scrum and lineout sessions at Latymer Upper School as part of a two-day training session this week, and Marler was complimentary in his assessment of the experience.

“We had a good hit out against them; it was a good session, tough. They are tough blokes,” said the 27-year-old.

“I think they had already scrummed and mauled in the morning (before the arranged session), so they were pretty warmed up. But some good questions were asked, so we will look at the tape and go back and work on things.”

With the majority of Georgia’s pack playing in France’s Top 14 league, Marler is well-versed in the style of play they adopt, and knew exactly what to expect.

“You come across quite a few of them when you play the French teams – a lot of Georgian props ply their trade out there – and they are naturally strong,” the Quin added.

“I know one of their strength and conditioning guys who used to be an intern at Quins, so I was chatting to him and I asked if they were just gym strong, or whether they had that old man farm strength, and he said both. It definitely felt like that out there with them.”

Marler has been sharing a room with James Haskell – another player yet to feature for England in 2018 – and although now free to play, the duo have been on tailored training programs, something Marler believes will benefit them, if they are selected to play at Murrayfield.

“We’ve been up at the crack of dawn being flogged – rightly so – we hadn’t a game to save ourselves for, so we might as well have pushed ourselves to make physical improvements,” he added.

“The fact I have have trained above game intensity will stand me in good stead if selected for the Scotland game. But playing a Test match, you’ll always struggle to adapt to that first five minutes.”

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England use heated trousers for replacements:

England’s quest to win a hat-trick of NatWest Six Nations titles is being fired by heated trousers after the RFU borrowed the idea from British Cycling whose experts developed “hot pants” for the athletes to wear at the London Olympic Games in 2012 to prevent their muscles from seizing up between races.

Eddie Jones is dressing his replacements in the battery-powered trousers to ensure that they are in prime condition to make a big impact off the bench.

The temperature at Murrayfield is expected to be 4C when England play Scotland on Saturday, but the black trousers generate heat of about 40C to keep the players’ leg muscles warm.

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Scot David Moyes invited to England training session:

England expressed no qualms about having the enemy within camp ahead of Saturday’s Calcutta Cup at Murrayfield after issuing an invitation to Scot, West Ham manager, David Moyes, to attend their training on Tuesday along with a trio of other football luminaries, Les Ferdinand (QPR), Stuart Pearce, Moyes’ assistant at the Hammers, and former England international player and manager, Hope Powell, now in charge of Brighton and Hove Albion’s women’s team.

The arrangement is part of an ongoing cross-fertilisation process that has seen the likes of Chelsea’s Antonio Conte, England’s Gareth Southgate and cricket captain, Alastair Cook, come into camp while Eddie Jones has observed sessions at the likes of Bayern Munich, Arsenal and Southampton.

Jones and his opposite number at Murrayfield on Saturday, Gregor Townsend, have spent time in the company of Manchester City’s, Pep Guardiola, and have both spoken glowingly of the benefits to be had in the transfer of attitudes and practices  between the sporting codes.

This particular initiative was brokered through the League Managers’ Association. There is little doubt that the England players feel that they get something valuable from the presence of such well-travelled sports personnel.  It is a two-way street with Moyes and his colleagues sure to pick up on various aspects of England’s preparation.

“It’s a sign of us doing things well that people are interested to come and have a look at how we do things,” said England hooker, Jamie George. “I love my cricket so I had a good chat with Alastair Cook while he was here.

“Antonio Conte was more interested in what the backs were up to, their speed work, more so than the scrums. We want to try and learn a few things from them as they are at the top of their sports as well. It’s amazing for people to come in and see that. It spurs you on to keep doing what you’re doing, to keep improving and be pioneering.

“There is a crossover in terms of sport science and the GPS data our guys produce, how they measure the heart rate and all the rest of it. It is also to do with what culture others are trying to produce, how they deal with setbacks.