Courtney Lowes (above) will take over as England captain in the absence of Owen Farrell. Photo: David Rodgers/Getty Images
The day before, England captain Courtney Lawes, after her 100th Test for her country, has a simple message to teammates and fans: relax.
This is Lawes on the court as counterpoint to the frenetic intensity of Owen Farrell, whom he will replace as captain for the next three matches. The 34-year-old has the same fierce drive but has an outwardly nonchalant aura so he doesn't panic about England's results or performance ahead of the World Cup.
This is partly due to the experience when he first came to England in 2009 expecting to be a mere tackle holder, but made his debut against Australia a few days later, captained by one Steve Borthwick. Since then, Lowes has gone through four head coaches and has seen firsthand the moment the England team falls apart and falls apart. He insists that the Borthwick Brothers band is still far from that point, even if he doesn't try to gloss over their recent performances.
«You understand when the team only cares about the team and when you have a number of people who only care about themselves,» Lowes said. “And then you realize that you have a problem, and this is not the problem of this team.
“One of the most important hands in this kind of thing is training, when you have not yet been selected. What is your attitude? Are you still giving money to the team? Are you still providing what the team needs? Are you negative? Doesn't that bother you because you're not on the team? This is a very important sign.
“It gives me a lot of confidence that we are not playing very well at the moment, but over time we will relax with the ball and understand our structure better.” and everything will go well. When they do, the ball will roll in our favor because everyone is pulling in the same direction. Unfortunately, this is not always the case.”
There are fewer popular players among both teammates and opponents (with the possible exception of a certain generation of French midfielders) than Lowes. Offensive coach Richard Wigglesworth spent most of his playing career doing his best to avoid Lowes, who first made his name as a scalp hunter. Those big hits are still in Laws' dressing room, but Wigglesworth says his all-round performance remains underappreciated.
“My 10s got hit a few times, but I managed to stay away,” Wigglesworth said. “I'm sure he scratched me a few times, but I didn't get hit by any of those missiles. If I were here, I might not be here right now. He is one of those players that you know are really good players when you watch him and play against him. When you play with him, you realize that he is not just very good, he is a real, real player who can do anything.”
Laws credits Dorian West, his first striker coach at Northampton, for being he instilled in him what he calls an «advantage», but after the 2015 World Cup, it felt like he was drifting. Enter Eddie Jones, who dumped him and told some uncomfortable domestic truths.
«When I stopped progressing as a player, he was the one who stepped in and really gave me the push to push me to become the player I could be,» Lowes said. “He told me that I need to keep hitting people and keep the ball better, be the player I was when I was younger. I'm not as heavy as big boys like David Ribbans who weighs 124kg and can run straight through you. I'm not quite like that. I like a bit of footwork, better hitting the lines and using the big guys when available.”
Achieving the 100-cap Fiji milestone at Twickenham on Saturday is as much of a relief as anything else. after a series of injuries last season. Not that he was happy with where he or England were now. “It's amazing,” Lowes said. “It took 14 years to achieve this. It's important to me, but it's not my main goal. My main goal is to become the best player I can be. I certainly don't feel like I've achieved it yet.
“The only thing I can truly say is the truth: we are literally giving absolutely everything we have to improve this team and improve to become the team we can.
“And sometimes it can even make you not play as well.”
“Obviously, at the moment we have not performed as well as we would like. but we don't feel like we're far from it until a penny drops and we can start working the way we know we can.»
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