KYRAN BRACKEN
FORMER ENGLAND SCRUM-HALF
It's interesting that, in England, scrum-half has traditionally been considered less influential tactically than fly-half, with the focus almost always on the player in the No.10 shirt.
However, with nations like France and South Africa, everything goes through the scrum-half, who is considered to be not only the main tactical general, but the heartbeat of the team. That tradition is reflected at the moment in the influence of Antoine Dupont for France, and Faf de Klerk for the Springboks – but just recently England also appear to have rediscovered the importance of the position.
Eddie Jones is very lucky to now have a handful of young scrumhalves with the ability to become world class. These new No.9s are Leicester's Jack van Poortvliet, who made such an impact in England's series victory over the Wallabies this summer, Sale's Raffi Quirke, Northampton's Alex Mitchell, and Bristol's Harry Randall.
Even so, I would also definitely keep Danny Care in the mix, while the jury is out on Ben Youngs. Ben stood down for the tour of Australia, and he will have to play a lot better to get the shirt back than he did last season – but the centurion has proved people wrong before, including me.
I have said before that I have found much of Jones' selection at scrum-half baffling over the last five years, with Ben Spencer largely ignored, and Dan Robson too, and somehow, when they have been selected, it has always been at the wrong time. The same applies to Care, who has been on fire for the last two seasons but could not get back into the team – and then, when he eventually got another chance, his form in Australia dipped.
I can understand how it happens, because Jones' policy at nine often seems a bit out of kilter – and no one knows this better than Randall. The Bristol scrum-half went from first choice for the three 2022 Six Nations matches after the opening defeat to Scotland, to being dropped to the bench for the last round showdown against the French in Paris, with Youngs installed.
Randall's demotion took an even sharper downturn when he dropped to third choice in Australia, behind van Poortvliet and Care, and was overlooked in all three Tests. It cannot have done his confidence any good, and Care was in the same boat when he was substituted before half-time after starting the third Test.
Van Poortvliet could not have taken his opportunity any better. I thought he was all right when he came into England U20 contention, but the scrum-half coming through the ranks who was billed as being something special at the time was Quirke.
However, when van Poortvliet made his first England start in the second Test against Australia, I have never seen a nine play so well on his debut – and I thought I had a pretty good game against the All Blacks back in 1993!
What was so impressive was the authority with which he played. His timing and execution at scrum-half was exceptional, and his box-kicking was in a different league. What van Poortvliet highlighted is that England's kicking from nine has been very poor for a number of years, with it virtually disappearing as an attacking option because of box-kicks regularly going 10 metres too far, giving chasers no hope of challenging for the ball. So, watching Australia struggle with his box-kicks filled me with delight.
It was not just about a young nine coping, it was a young nine controlling the game – and I don't remember van Poortvliet making one bad decision. He's got an eye for the gap, and is powerful and quick around the fringes in the same way that Dewi Morris was. Another big bonus is that his pass is much faster than we've had for some time.
Now it is all about Jones picking his scrum-halves on form, and recognising the importance of competition between them. I won 51 England caps and started 35 of them, but I always thought that I had to be man-of-the-match to get ahead of Matt Dawson. It was a bit of a nightmare at times, because I'd have four of five games in succession, and then Matt would score a special try and force his way back in.
Van Poortvliet is the man in possession, and has not only settled in well, but shown how a sharp scrumhalf can galvanise a struggling team. Quirke and Care have both got the X-factor to change a game, but I've only seen Quirke use his speed to produce one of those moments, against South Africa last autumn, while Care has produced quite a few of them. Care has also shown at Harlequins on multiple occasions that his influence can be the deciding factor in high-pressure matches, whereas I've yet to see Quirke run a game like that at club level.
Now that de Klerk has moved on, Quirke will get that opportunity but he will need to work on his core skills to take advantage of it. The problem for Quirke, and a busy scrum-half like Mitchell, is that they are “the unknown” because they are not proven yet at international level. By comparison, the French have great back up to Dupont in Baptiste Couilloud and Nolann Le Garrec, and the Welsh have given impressive scrum-halves like Kieran Hardy and Tomos Williams plenty of Test experience.
What van Poortvliet showed in Australia is that he was good enough to take his chance, and that he has the promise to be able to make a similar impact to the world's best scrum-halves. If you look at Dupont, de Klerk, and Ireland's Jamison Gibson-Park, they are so key, because of the way they maximise on quick ball, and are capable of moments of magic.
I've seen enough of van Poortvliet to be convinced that at Leicester he should be starting ahead of both Youngs and Richard Wigglesworth in the coming season. He didn't get that chance when they were selected ahead of him in the Tigers starting 23 which won the Premiership final against Saracens in June.
However, given what we have seen in Australia, Jack van Poortvliet would be the starting scrum-half if that final was played again tomorrow – and the way he's risen to the challenge should help him to retain the England shirt in the autumn.
