IF ANDY ROBINSON had wanted to put greater pressure on Charlie Hodgson, England’s errant goalkicker, he did so yesterday by including Andy Goode in his senior squad for the first time.
The squad of 30 will prepare for the match against Ireland in Dublin on Sunday week, a fixture critical to Ireland’s hopes of a grand slam in the RBS Six Nations Championship and to England if they are to achieve anything at all after two disappointing defeats.
Hodgson has had to bear the brunt of the criticism, particularly after the 18-17 defeat by France at Twickenham on Sunday, when he failed with three penalty goals and a last-gasp dropped goal. Hence the arrival of the uncapped Goode, one of eight Leicester players in the squad, but not only for his goalkicking — indeed, his percentage success rate in the Zurich Premiership is slightly lower than Hodgson’s. Robinson watched Goode, 24, exert a significant degree of control on last Friday’s A international against France, played in wind and rain. The fly half also kicked four goals out of seven attempts, but off a less-than-perfect playing surface at the Recreation Ground in Bath.
“Andy has been knocking on the England door recently with his good form for Leicester and I felt he impressed last week in his A-game performance,” Robinson, the England head coach, said.
If Goode’s kicking off the ground has been impressive this season, he also kicks as long a ball out of hand as anyone in the Premiership and has grown in confidence in a back division expressing itself better than at any other club.
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Goode is the Premiership’s leading points-scorer this season with 162, nine ahead of Hodgson, but the Sale Sharks fly half has a marginally better strike rate, 72.22 per cent compared with Goode’s 71.25. Both are behind the Premiership’s most successful percentage kicker, Barry Everitt, of London Irish, with 82 per cent, while Paul Grayson (Northampton), Jonny Wilkinson (Newcastle) and Alex King (London Wasps) also have better strike rates.
It would be a surprise were Goode to be preferred at Lansdowne Road, but the warning to Hodgson is plain: he has to demonstrate sooner rather than later that he can kick the pressure goals and tidy up his tactical kicking, or risk losing his place.
Julian White, Goode’s club colleague, remains unavailable because of the neck injury that kept him out of the contest with France and three other players included in the squad in January, before the Six Nations began — Iain Balshaw, James Forrester and Hugh Vyvyan — have not found a place. However, Mathew Tait, the young Newcastle centre capped against Wales, remains involved, which may be some small consolation to his director of rugby, Rob Andrew, who has been critical of Robinson ‘s handling of the teenager.
The selection by London Wasps of Josh Lewsey at outside centre for Sunday’s Premiership match against Northampton will mean little to Robinson, who still sees him as a back-three player. But the England head coach will doubtless be relieved that Northampton have chosen Ben Cohen in his international position of wing rather than centre, where he has had to shore up the struggling Saints this season.
Ireland, meanwhile, have added 11 players to the squad that beat Scotland last weekend. They include Brian O’Driscoll and Gordon D’Arcy, the centres, who missed the game at Murrayfield with hamstring injuries and whose fitness will be assessed over the weekend after cryotherapy in Poland this week. Ireland will name their starting XV next Wednesday, England 24 hours earlier.
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ENGLAND SQUAD
BACKS: J Robinson (Sale Sharks), B Cohen (Northampton), M Cueto (Sale Sharks), J Lewsey (London Wasps), J Noon (Newcastle), H Paul (Gloucester), O Smith (Leicester), M Tait (Newcastle), O Barkley (Bath), A Goode (Leicester), C Hodgson (Sale Sharks), M Dawson (London Wasps), H Ellis (Leicester), A Gomarsall (Gloucester).
FORWARDS: G Rowntree (Leicester), A Sheridan (Sale Sharks), M Stevens (Bath), P Vickery (Gloucester), G Chuter (Leicester), S Thompson (Northampton), A Titterrell (Sale Sharks), S Borthwick (Bath), D Grewcock (Bath), B Kay (Leicester), S Shaw (London Wasps), M Corry (Leicester), A Hazell (Gloucester), C Jones (Sale Sharks), L Moody (Leicester), J Worsley (London Wasps).
ADDITIONAL IRELAND SQUAD MEMBERS: Backs: T Bowe (Ulster), A Horgan (Munster), S Payne (Munster), G D’Arcy (Leinster), B O’Driscoll (Leinster), K Campbell (Ulster). Forwards: S Best (Ulster), B Jackman (Connacht), G Longwell (Ulster), A Quinlan (Munster), D Leamy (Munster).