The end. Not just of Exeter Chiefs’ Heineken Champions Cup defence but for the hopes of any remaining Sale Sharks and Exeter players hoping to press their claims for last-minute British & Irish Lions inclusion. The Gallagher Premiership has been entertaining, exciting; that is not the same as excellent. Driven to the depths of inertia by the national team, the freewheeling nature of English club rugby has taken the alternative route. Nine out of ten for ambition, five for accuracy.
The top flight lacks the quality required between now and the announcement of the Lions tour party for any lingering international exiles to make their point. English rugby simply has not been good enough this season. Much has been written about the Test team. Less about the clubs.
That will change with their dismal European failure compared to the French clubs, who have dominated the competition numerically. But little is different from recent years. Exeter and, predominantly, Saracens masked the struggles of the English sides. One exceptional and another great side disguised the mediocrity.
Without Saracens and with an Exeter team finding it harder to defend titles than win them in the first place, there is nothing surprising about the demise. There is a space between the claustrophobia of the present Eddie Jones-mode and the expansiveness of club rugby that the English game needs to fill.
The French clubs are closer to finding that ideal. Hence it is left to Leinster to take on the might of the French.
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Sale — a strong, traditional English side — were blown away by the variety of La Rochelle, who play it fast, loose, slow and tight. There is an entire rugby symphony wrapped up in the final 50 minutes of their 45-21 demolition of Sale. Tom Curry was colossal on the back foot. There is no English team to test him as La Rochelle did. He does not need to worry. The back-rower was as good as anyone in the Six Nations. He is on the plane — providing it takes off — for South Africa.
The weekend provided worse news for the hugely touted Exeter No 8, Sam Simmonds. The flying forward started well, bursting at pace off a third-minute scrum and playing a part in Exeter’s first try. The afternoon ended with Jack Conan eclipsing him, as Leinster prevailed 34-22. Back from injury, Conan looks better than ever. There is a physical presence to his game, proven form and the softest of hands. My moment of the Six Nations was the Keith Earls try against England. The precision of Rob Herring’s long throw, five metres beyond the tail of the lineout, the athletic leap of Conan and the most delicate of popped passes back inside — into the hole the hooker and No 8 had created for Earls to exploit.
Conan was immense again as the Irish giants fought back from a slow start at Sandy Park. As good a player as Simmonds is, it is hard to see him being selected ahead of men such as the Leinster forward and Taulupe Faletau. On form, Billy Vunipola is no longer part of the discussion.
Saturday might just have been the day that Ireland’s impact hooker, Ronan Kelleher, edged out the feisty Luke Cowan-Dickie. On this side of the Irish Sea there has been plenty of debate on whether Warren Gatland would select the Exeter hooker, Jamie George or both. It could be that the answer is neither, with the Irish duo joining the Welshman Ken Owens.
The ability to throw accurately under pressure against the towering Springbok lineout is the key to beating them. The underestimated Herring is more accurate than his rivals. Mark him as the shock inclusion come the Tests.
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Behind the scrum there were others whose intensity could prove decisive. Henry Slade is tipped by some as one of those outstanding players who could miss out. On Saturday he may have been on the losing team but everything he did screamed Test No 13. When Jonathan Davies took Brian O’Driscoll’s place in the 2013 Lions team in Australia, there was an outcry from the travelling media. Gatland was the man who saw that history counts for nothing against overwhelmingly superior form.
This time around the Welshman is the 2021 O’Driscoll to Slade’s Davies. Slade is the best 13 in Britain and Ireland; running, passing, kicking, tackling, he is the pick. On Saturday he reminded Gatland of that, while the hard graft of Robbie Henshaw should complete the balance of the centre partnership.
If these centres have played their way into a likely Test partnership, the Scotland captain Stuart Hogg might just have missed the plane. Twice he was caught out, defensively flat-footed. Twice Jordan Larmour nudged Gatland with the bamboozling quality of his footwork and his positional versatility.
Opposite Hogg, Hugo Keenan continues to impress. It is a prerequisite to be aerially commanding in South Africa. The Irishman fits the bill. Gathering kicks is not Hogg’s greatest asset. Keenan was solid for much of the Six Nations. Saturday may have been the day his tour place was booked.
I doubt either Rhys Ruddock or Dave Ewers will tour but neither would let the Lions down while Tom O’Flaherty was probably the most influential player on the field. He reminded me of a young Shane Williams and Gatland, well, he saw the value of the little genie capable of breaking the pattern. Come to think of it, not dissimilar to Toulouse’s favourite son, Cheslin Kolbe.
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My first-Test 23 Keenan; Watson, Slade, Henshaw, Adams; Russell, Murray; W Jones, Herring, Furlong, Itoje, Ryan, T Curry, Underhill, Conan. Bench M Vunipola, Kelleher, Sinckler, Beirne, Faletau, Hardy, Farrell, Larmour.
