by Another week, another surprising attempt for Henry Arundell, whose start in Paris with Racing 92 could hardly have gone better. In just three appearances, one of which came off the bench, Arundell has already shown the Racing faithful what many English fans consider blindingly obvious: give the 21-year-old the ball and he will deliver the tries.
He now has four for his new club, including an impressive hat-trick on debut, and it seems clear Arundell has settled into a team that likes to put on a show at their home, La Defense Arena. Stuart Lancaster welcomed Siya Kolisi back into his ranks in the 32-10 win over La Rochelle on Sunday night to add even more star appeal and both Englishmen are evidently already thriving in Paris.
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Arundell’s progress for Racing will be closely monitored at the Rugby Football Union, which has applied its exceptional circumstances loophole to ensure he is available to play for England in the Six Nations. However, he will only be available for the summer tour of Japan and New Zealand if he has signed with a Premiership club for next season. Bath, where Arundell had a season ticket when he was young and where there was considerable interest before he agreed to move to Racing, and Gloucester are said to be possible suitors.
As much as the RFU enjoys watching Arundell flourish in France, there is a downside. Jack Willis’s consistent excellence for Toulouse last season (to the extent that the club’s supporters were baffled that he failed to enter Steve Borthwick’s first-choice World Cup XV) could be considered an outlier in that was forced to make the move after Wasps. he went bankrupt.
Not all Englishmen abroad have adapted to life in France so quickly: David Ribbans and Joe Marchant aren’t exactly uprooting trees yet, although Joe Simmonds has excelled in Pau. However, if Arundell continues in a similar vein this season, it will start to look like a trend: English players not only maintain their level in France, but playing there improves them. During this year’s Six Nations, Borthwick was asked if Willis had become a better player in his time with Toulouse and, knowing full well the tightrope the RFU walks when it comes to selecting players based in the foreigner, his break was pregnant with twins.
At the time, Borthwick insisted that he wanted to be able to pick “the best possible players”, which is subtly different from the party line, which now says that “we want the best English players to play in England”. Owen Farrell repeated it, virtually word for word, last week when his Saracens and England team-mate Maro Itoje apparently faced the choice between a significant pay cut to stay where he is or earn his market value abroad. As things stand, that is not enough to invoke exceptional circumstances (as much as the players have collectively argued otherwise to the RFU), so Itoje would be prevented from playing for England and collecting the lucrative appearance fees that come with it. offer a guaranteed holder. The solution may be for the RFU to rush to conclude its “hybrid contracts” with Itoje as a model, but details remain scarce on the ground.
Back to Arundell, and for now the RFU can hide behind its exceptional circumstances, invoked because London Irish went bankrupt at the end of last season. However, problems arise if, like Willis, Arundell decides that the grass is greener outside England and decides to stay in France next season (regardless of whether the offer of a hybrid contract comes in time) and how Borthwick will use him in the future. months will likely have a significant impact on his decision.
While Arundell scored five tries in the World Cup – all in a match against Chile – his performance was desperate in the third-place match against Argentina. He has had good moments in his 10 appearances for England, scoring a fascinating try with his first touch against Australia in July 2022, but equally against the Pumas, against Wales in the build-up to the World Cup when he was shown a yellow card and against Ireland during the Six Nations have seemed like a fish out of water. The common denominator on each occasion has been England’s failure to get the ball in their hands early and often, raising the question of whether Borthwick really wants Arundell at his disposal.
The head coach has spoken glowingly of the X-factor Arundell possesses, but privately some members of the England management are said to have doubts over his current suitability for the Test field. There’s no doubt he’ll make it, but the uncertainty over his all-round game would coincide with the relative lack of minutes he had in the World Cup.
That Borthwick paid him a visit last week in Paris (taking the opportunity to also meet one of his predecessors, Lancaster) bodes well, but the evidence we have seen so far makes it clear that Arundell does not fit into the current English system. . . As one well-informed source explained, Jonny May does not rank among the Premiership’s top 10 wingers by the most objective standards, but when it comes to the disciplines of chasing kicks and holding firm defensively, there are few better. Elliot Daly was Borthwick’s preferred option on the other wing in France and is someone with the rugby intelligence to adapt his game to the kick-chasing mould. What a shame, though, to see such a talented player put in a straitjacket despite Borthwick’s repeated insistence that his team “has to have the ball in their hands.”
May has finished his career in England so will not be available during the Six Nations and if Daly fills the void left by Marchant (who is unavailable for selection because the Premiership club he left still exists) at outside centre, Borthwick will look for options in an area of the pitch that has always felt fluid during his tenure.
Critics would say that it doesn’t matter who he chooses on the wing if England continue with a game plan that leaves them deprived of the ball, but if he gives Arundell his head and, more importantly, adopts a style that suits him, it will be of great help. to determine the next phase in Borthwick’s evolution. It is a selection that takes on greater importance because, already, Arundell’s marginalization is sustained by those followers who crave more ambition as something that has to change. It’s an argument that gains weight with every try he scores for Racing.
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