Why the Lions tour killed England’s Six Nations campaign ...Middle East

The roots of England’s woeful Six Nations campaign were clear to see, all the way back last summer during a tour by a different team: the British & Irish Lions.

Remember the fun everyone had predicting the Lions’ Test line-up? Any mentions of an England full-back, centre, fly-half, hooker, No 8…? Barely a peep.

And so it transpired, with the 2-1 series victory in Australia based on an Ireland head coach, Andy Farrell, and Ireland and Scotland players – from Hugo Keenan and Finn Russell in the backs to Dan Sheehan and Tadhg Beirne in the forwards.

Tom Curry came through strongly, confirming his world class, but he, Maro Itoje and Tommy Freeman were the only Englishmen who started all three Lions Tests.

By the autumn as England pieced their squad back together, Curry was on the bench, managing his battered body.

And Freeman revealed last month that the Lions tour had drained him.

“Without realising it, I think I was tired,” Freeman said. “My body felt like I was okay to go but I just think mentally it was a bit more of a struggle.”

It is reasonable to believe Itoje, the Lions captain, had a similar feeling; he told The i Paper in October he was playing too many matches, and in November he had a knee injury, while Freeman started England’s autumn before being affected by a hamstring niggle.

England tighthead prop Will Stuart did all right with the Lions, but is now injured, while Ellis Genge, Alex Mitchell, Ollie Chessum, Ben Earl, Marcus Smith and Owen Farrell also had partial roles in the Tests.

‘No player will ever admit it’

Then there is another effect, that only came into plain sight once the Six Nations kicked off. And it is a matter of opinion, as no player is likely to admit to it.

The Scotland and Ireland Lions who toured with their England counterparts had seen them up close and personal, in training every day and in matches.

For seven weeks down under, the Irish and Scots got the measure of England’s best players’ strengths and weaknesses; their plus points and foibles.

The intel would be unleashed when they reverted to their national jerseys, and in the Six Nations meetings in February, there was no fear.

Murrayfield roars!Huw Jones gives Scotland the lead after a wonderful touch from Finn Russell pic.twitter.com/DzLfWxmcMH

Think of Russell, Sione Tuipulotu and Huw Jones outflanking English Lions left, right and centre in Scotland’s 31-20 win at Murrayfield.

Think of Jamison Gibson-Park’s super-confident tap and go try in Ireland’s 42-21 romp at Twickenham, and the Irish forwards dominating England’s in the breakdowns.

Real-world moves borne out of inside knowledge.

At the end at Twickenham, with England’s dreams of a first Grand Slam in 10 years shattered, Earl caught up with his erstwhile touring colleagues including Sheehan.

It looed a cheerful reunion, doubtless reviving treasured bonds from a shared Australian summer. But surely also an unspoken reminder of the relative places in the pecking order.

Argentina tour made little difference to starting XV

Meanwhile, England last summer had sent a shadow squad under head coach Steve Borthwick to tour Argentina and the USA.

On the face of it, this brought good news.

The likes of flanker Guy Pepper and centre Seb Atkinson did well, and so did the defence, and there were two Test wins out of two over the Pumas.

Borthwick hailed it as making England greater than the sum of the parts from across the two tours.

But look at fly-half Fin Smith. Instead of wearing the England No 10 jersey in Argentina, and building on the understanding in the backline and of the game plan, he was flitting round Australia, giving off the demoralised vibes of a Lions bit-part extra.

George Ford was England’s No 10 instead, and he stayed that way in the autumn, with Smith starting only against Fiji in November.

Smith reclaimed the shirt just last week in Italy – so arguably, he has had the best part of a year wasted, thanks to the Lions.

Similarly, Freeman played on the wing for the Lions, whereas England wanted to try him in the centres.

Or how about Henry Pollock, who had just one cap when he was picked for the Lions tour.

Instead of honing his skills and cohesion with England, he held tackle bags in Australia, appearing on the field only in the mostly facile non-Test games.

Or Jamie George: a great England hooker and recent captain who was not originally selected by Lions then rushed across at a click of Farrell’s fingers, and came out of it telling this paper in January how brilliant Sheehan is.

But the Lions Test team is the “pinnacle”, you might say?

Okay, if we accept that – and it was debatable against a middling Australian team – England’s players must have been looking round and concluding the pinnacle added up to mostly Ireland and Scotland players and coaches, with England’s assistant coach Richard Wigglesworth and one Welshman, Jac Morgan, thrown in.

And the picture that painted is how this Six Nations has played out.

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