Having a ball-player is important but England also need a bit of beef, and that’s Freeman | Ugo Monye
Optimism is often manufactured at the start of a campaign.Everyone goes in believing they can win every game, but there is a mood of true optimism around England before the autumn series.Considering they have won their past seven matches, had their best finish to a Six Nations for five years and then won a summer series in Argentina, I think it’s fair to have confidence.Argentina beat the British & Irish Lions and England won there despite having 13 players away in Australia, plus one of the coaches.The number of Prem players excelling and the level in that competition also makes me excited for what England can achieve in November, starting with Australia on Saturday.
Steve Borthwick is growing into the head coach job and is more confident in what he’s doing: turbulence may not be the right word for the early days of his tenure but I think people expected more.As fans we want immediate results, but coaches tend to have a “helicopter” view and understand the direction of travel.Two years into this World Cup cycle the team’s trajectory – overall development, increasing experience and playing style – are tracking the right way.Lee Blackett has been brought in as attack coach and did a tremendous job in the summer.Some of the tries England scored were really good and I loved the brand of rugby they were playing: it was aesthetically pleasing as well as effective.
Byron McGuigan also did a really good job in Argentina.Defence has probably been England’s biggest weakness in the past year and it will be interesting to see if they become a bit more aggressive with his input coaching alongside Richard Wigglesworth.Borthwick is taking an opportunity against high-class opposition to see how Tommy Freeman goes at outside-centre, and he will have his hands full against Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii.We’ve seen Freeman excel at No 13 for Northampton and you know what you get with Tommy.He’s combative, athletic and powerful and England will want him getting over the gain-line.
His natural game is to roam so I’m fascinated to see how they manage space for him.Fraser Dingwall, alongside at No 12, is known as the glue player at Northampton.A lot of his work is not so obvious: his work rate, the way he connects things.Having a ball-player at inside-centre is important but you also need a bit of muscle, a bit of beef, and that’s Freeman.They play together at Northampton but we’ve not yet seen them combine much on the Test stage.
Freeman is the in-form wing in the Prem – but he’s not playing on the wing – while the in-form outside-centres [Ollie Lawrence and Henry Slade] are not even in the matchday squad,It’s definitely an experiment and a chance for Borthwick to have a look at some new combinations,Lawrence and Slade will get a chance during November, though, and Borthwick will certainly pick his best starting XV for the All Blacks in two weeks’ time,I once scored five tries in a game just like England’s newest recruit Noah Caluori, but it was in the Championship against Exeter,I never achieved the feat in the Prem, and certainly not on debut.
He has some outstanding athletic attributes.There is one test all the athletes do called the CMJ – the countermovement jump – and according to the lads at Saracens no one has a higher vertical standing jump than Caluori.Sign up to The BreakdownThe latest rugby union news and analysis, plus all the week's action reviewedafter newsletter promotionI’d love to see him get a run-out against Fiji next Saturday but regardless of how much game time he gets, being in the England environment will ultimately help him.It’s a step up.The coaches will nurture him and be really patient.
Are we expecting a complete player in his first year of professional rugby? Absolutely not.He will bed in.The ceiling of his potential is extraordinarily high: everyone needs to be patient and allow him space to show his quality.I don’t know the last time an England bench featured six British & Irish Lions.This time last year, they lost the opening two matches in the last 20 minutes, but looking at the quality of the replacements I don’t think that will be part of the conversation.
Luke Cowan-Dickie is poised to win his 50th cap and then there’s Ellis Genge, Will Stuart, Alex Coles.Tom Curry is one of the best in the world and Henry Pollock is another Lion.Ben Spencer is Bath’s club captain and one of the form No 9s in the country.There are no excuses about England’s ability to play for 80 minutes with that sort of quality on the bench.A lot of the replacements could easily have been starting.
The level of depth and competition is better than at any point in Borthwick’s tenure, and I think England are in a very good place.
The Next wave: how the clothing retailer spread its wings and made sales surge
Whatever Next? One of the UK’s largest clothing retailers is shrugging off its rather dull image and spreading its wings internationally, even as many high street rivals suffer.You may think of Next as a place to buy reliable work clothes, a nice cushion or to kit out the kids – it is the UK’s biggest children’s clothing seller. However, it has quietly been morphing into something much bigger.Its shop on London’s Oxford Street tells some of the story – it houses not only a giant kids clothing department, but a big men’s suiting section and womenswear. Many of the parents shopping there appear to be waiting for teenage daughters who are thronging the Victoria’s Secret section upstairs and the neighbouring Bath & Body Works and Gap stores
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A champagne industry body has written to the celebrity Delevingne sisters demanding they stop making references to the drink in the marketing of their vegan prosecco brand.Della Vite, founded by Cara, Poppy and Chloe Delevingne, has been accused of exploiting the reputation of champagne, by Comité Champagne, the Times reported.Della Vite marketing materials feature the slogan: “Cheat on champagne” and: “Warning: This is not champagne”.It has emerged Della Vite received a letter from the industry body, which describes itself as “defending the joint interests of champagne houses and growers”, demanding they stop making reference to champagne in their marketing.The sisters refused and the brand has continued with its campaign
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Tinned tuna maker Princes floats at nearly £1.2bn in boost for London
The tinned tuna maker Princes Group has kicked off a float with a valuation of nearly £1.2bn in a boost for the London stock market.The debut of the shares in the almost 150-year-old company, which is best known for its Princes tinned tuna and Napolina tinned tomatoes, olive oil and pasta, marks a rare bright spot in the UK’s lacklustre market for flotations.However, the stock launched at the bottom end of a £1.16bn to £1
Starbucks workers hold strike vote amid anger over pay and conditions
Unionized Starbucks workers across the US are casting their votes on whether to hold a strike amid anger over pay and conditions at the world’s largest coffee chain, and allegations it breached labor laws by engaging in bad faith bargaining.Starbucks has faced a rapid wave of mobilization since 2021. Starbucks Workers United, a union representing baristas at the chain, has won elections at more than 650 of its locations in 45 states and the District of Columbia, representing more than 12,000 workers.Butit has yet to obtain a contract. Starbucks Workers United claims company management started to “majorly stonewall” the union; Starbucks claims the union walked away from the bargaining table
UK house price growth slows as buyers ‘sit on sidelines’ before budget
British house price growth slowed in October, according to lending data, with analysts suggesting that buyers are “sitting on the sidelines” before a budget that may bring new property taxes.The average house price rose by 0.3% month on month in October, Nationwide said, down from 0.5% in September. The average price of a home was £272,226, up from £271,995 in September
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