Rugby Union

Tait must be the rule, not the exception

Ben Blackmore February 3, 2010

Mathew Tait has the ability to leave defenders trailing in his wake © Getty Images

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Cast your mind back to the 2007 Rugby World Cup final between South Africa and England. What do you remember (apart from the barmaid's name)? Most likely, you'll remember four things: Several successful Percy Montgomery penalties, a correctly disallowed England try, South Africa lifting the William Webb Ellis trophy, and possibly the brand of beer you were drinking.

The 2007 final was not a classic. A score of 15-6 generally never is. But it highlighted much that has troubled English rugby in the three years that have passed since that defeat at the Stade de France. Namely, a lack of mobility around the field, a lack of quick ball and - most painfully - a lack of ingenuity with ball in hand.

That is why it's important to cast your mind back, because lost in the shunt-and-manoeuvre style of that 2007 final was a moment that provides an important reference point when understanding Martin Johnson's team selection for England's Six Nations opener with Wales. The moment came just two minutes after half time in Paris, when a 21-year-old Mathew Tait accelerated onto a poor pass to scythe through the best defence in the world, providing the platform on which England came within an inch of scoring a crucial try - only for Mark Cueto's in-touch boot to attract the attention of the officials.

For all of the 80 minutes of kick and counter-kick, ruck and counter-ruck that went either side of it, Tait's electric contribution took England closer to a potentially game-changing try than anything else. Had Cueto's boot stayed in play Tait's break would have been one of the great World Cup moments, not to mention an inspirational boost to his team in the same way Jason Robinson's try injected momentum against Australia four years previously.

Johnson's selection of the Sale Shark for Saturday's visit of Wales is a major positive for England, a recognition that they need to be far less concerned with how the opposition are going to play and more focussed on their own style of rugby. Former Wales international Eddie Butler, quite rightly, touches on the kind of negative thoughts that have prevented England coaches adopting a bold approach in the past.

"There is a problem for England," writes Butler. "Wales will be issuing an invitation of their own to their opponents to play an attractive game. Wales often struggle to escape the stranglehold of a mighty England pack, and by the time the game escapes its rigid structures it is too late for Shane Williams in space to make much of a difference.

"But if the game is deliberately loosened by England, Wales may consider a fair proportion of the hard work done. And if you're going to experiment with liberty, it constitutes a major risk to do so against experts in broken-field rugby."

Butler's point is a good one, and his theory may come home to roost if the likes of James Haskell and Lewis Moody are unable to disrupt Wales' penchant for the Harlem Globetrotters approach at Twickenham. But the question must be, if you cannot experiment at home to the fading power that is Wales, when can you experiment? Surely it would be even greater suicide to allow Tait and fellow centre Riki Flutey to exchange pleasantries for the first time against France, Ireland or in an autumn international against South Africa.

England have little over a year before the 2011 World Cup to improve a 50% winning average under Martin Johnson, something they will never do by basing their own style of play on the opposition. Tait has been the gate-keeper to England's future for years, he has dazzled at U16, U18 and U19 level - as well as in international Sevens competition when he won the Dubai Sevens. He is the second youngest England debutant since World War II behind a certain Jonny Wilkinson, and World Cup-winner Mike Catt once labelled him "the future of English rugby".

Having spent a year working with one of the best centres in world rugby, Luke McAlister, Tait is reaching maturity at the age of 23, the same age Wilkinson won the World Cup. Other centres such as Dan Hipkiss and Jamie Noon are undoubtedly more battle-hardened, perhaps even more defensively aware than Tait, making them less of a risk against James Hook, Shane Williams and Co. But it is the phase of the game that sees England with ball in hand that Johnson must address, is addressing, and in that context Tait's maverick moment of 2007 is just one example of why he has to be the undisputed selection throughout the Six Nations, so that maybe in the next World Cup his thrilling break is the rule, not the exception.

Ben Blackmore is an assistant editor of ESPN.co.uk