Year of the Lion - Pre 6 Nations Predictions - Centres

 

In the so-called rugby glory years of the 70s, the only job of a centre was to chuck the ball as quickly as possible to the wingers; you’d be annoyed if you were tackled more than twice in a game.  Only if you were Welsh did you really try anything different.  Back then it was the position of “not quites” - not quite strong enough to be a flanker, fast enough to be a wing, smart enough to be a fly half or fat enough to be prop.  But the game has changed a little bit since then.

 

It began in the 80s, with the running talents of centres such as Clive Woodward, John Devereux, Brendan Mullin and, of course, Jeremy Guscott showing how modern centres could run like wingers and tackle like flankers.  As the game went professional, the centre became more and more central to the way teams would play.  These days, they are expected to do everything – pass, run, tackle, kick, ruck, maul, speak at least 4 different languages and be able to sing “Ke Sera Sera” backwards...all at the same time.

 

With that in mind, let’s take a look at which talented all-rounders are going to be making up the Lions midfield in 6 months time...

 

Inside Centre – this would be an easy one to call and I have no doubt he would be a huge star on the tour.  Alas though, the injury curse has struck.  Yes, I’ve ruptured my ACL and so I will be missing the tour, despite being a (self-promoted, admittedly) bolter for a starting spot.

 

I don’t normally buy into the view that your 12 has to be a second receiver/ball player.  The key is balance between your centres and your 15 – one of them has to be able to step in and help the 10.  I wouldn’t classify Ma’a Nonu or Jamie Roberts as terrible passers of the ball, but nor would I class them as fly-half fairies. Certainly not to their face anyway.  In fact, against the Australians, I would prefer a physical unit at 12 not just for the fact that the Lions can send him down the 10 channel where Quade Cooper will hopefully be cowering, but also because it gives the Lions a chance to take David Pocock out of the game for the second phase, where he is at his most dangerous.  If he is too busy trying to take down a monster of a centre crashing over his fly half, then it forces him to be tied up at the bottom of a ruck for the next phase, or two, of play.

 

With this in mind, there is currently only one man for the job – Samoan born Englishman MANU TUILAGI.  It’s true that the Leicester bowling bowl is usually at 13 for club and country, but many see his long term future at 12 where he has performed successfully in the past.  At 12 Manu can get his hands on the ball quickly and on the gainline, where he is most destructive and can utilise his unbelievable leg drive and low centre of gravity to devastating effect.  After setting records for bench pressing and winning wrestling contests in the England camp, not to mention his family ‘traits’, it’s easy to think of Tuilagi as just a powerhouse.  Wrong. With good feet and impressive speed, Tuilagi also has the ability to get on the outside of defenders, which is coupled with a surprisingly soft pair of hands for which he is often not credited – his two assists against New Zealand are perfect examples of what he is capable of. 

In fact, during the Autumn series he made more metres, beat more defenders and made more offloads than any other England player.  Defensively, he suffered from the ‘Samoan Syndrome’ early on where he would rush out of the line whilst looking for the big hit, but he has worked hard at this over the last 18 months to ensure that he remains disciplined without losing the ultra-physical edge that makes him such a nightmare to run at.  In fact, the only person in the world tougher than Manu Tuilagi is Mrs Tuilagi.  Manu has 6 brothers, and he’s the smallest – think about that.  Wow.  Respect to you Mrs Tuilagi, put your feet up and have a cigar.

 

The other standout candidate for the 12 shirt of course is the last Lions tour man of the series, big Welshman JAMIE ROBERTS.  World class centre, doctor and thoroughly nice guy, it is a constant irritation that I can’t find a single reason to dislike him.  Last Lions tour he broke the South African line time and time again, smashing through tackles with ease and offloading with aplomb to his teammates. He has struggled to replicate that spectacular form since then, despite playing an impressive part in Wales Grand Slam last year, but if he puts in a series of big performances like we all know he is capable of then he could make that starting shirt his own. A certain tourist either way.

 

Some dark horses, but long shots for the 12 shirt will be Irish veteran Gordon D’Arcy, who will be relishing the chance to travel with his old mucker Brian O’Driscoll once more, as well as South African born Saracens centre Brad Barritt.  Defensively one of the best centres about, but questions still remain over his skill as an attacker – unless Conrad Smith waves through a gap the size of Watford again.  A potential bolter is Billy Twelvetrees though: the Gloucester man has been in great form for his club and he seems to have all the attributes to be a superb 12 – great hands, good speed, big boot, a strong carry and a surname that sounds like it’s been taken from a Roald Dahl book – so it will be interesting to see how he fares.

 

Outside Centre – with the wrecking ball that is Manu Tuilagi at 12, who do we have on his outside with a touch more finesse?  To be fair, if Manu is in his most destructive mood, an angry buffalo with tourette’s might have more subtlety, but you get my gist.  There are 2 obvious contenders here – both are players who will be able to take advantage of the space created by Tuilagi’s trucking runs, hitting gaps and providing chances to others – and I am going to give in to temptation and hand the 13 shirt to BRIAN O'DRISCOLL for one last hurrah. 

 

BOD has been, without question, the best centre of his generation and probably the best Irish centre of all time.  His footwork, spatial awareness, speed of thought and rock solid defence have always marked him out as a special talent, but what raises him above all others is his ability to create something from nothing through moments of pure genius:

 

Although he has a habit of winding me up with his smug, squishy face when his side defeats the one I support (which happens with a fair degree of regularity), his phenomenal handling skills, leadership qualities and experience hand him a starting role. 

 

He is pushed all the way though by the ever-impressive Welsh centre JONATHAN DAVIES.  With a low centre of gravity, Davies is powerful enough to give thrust to an attack but he has a wonderfully subtle sleight of hand developed from his formative years when he played at fly half, and his scoring rate of 8 tries in 28 starts for Wales shows that he knows how to sniff out try scoring opportunities.  If he can recreate his Grand Slam form this time around, there is every chance he will snatch the starting jersey of the legendary O’Driscoll.  This Jonathan Davies is, of course, not to be confused with his highly irritating name sake who commentates on the BBC.  Someone get that man’s balls to drop.

 

Behind these two outstanding 13s there are a couple of bolters who could yet make a splash when it comes to selection.   Scott Williams struggles to break into the Welsh side because of Roberts and Davies, but further impressive cameos will ensure that he keeps the pressure up, whilst London Irish flyer Jonathan Joseph has shown his sublime talent in flashes – but he needs to develop consistency.  Elsewhere, Scottish centre...er...nope, sorry.  A tragic weakness for the Scots at international level is the lack of a first rate centre – although they are defensively solid, I think a returning Scott Hastings would have more chance of getting game time on the tour.

 

Centres of Attention

I’ve picked the four standout candidates, and although there will be arguments about who starts and where, I sense that these four are fairly settled on at the moment.  That said, it’s a Lions year and calls made with certainty at this stage often end up in embarrassment at best, and financial ruin (if you’re an excessive gambler) at worst.  I think the starting centres I have picked have a perfect mix of subtlety and power, similar to that of the Roberts/O’Driscoll partnership on the last tour, and has the potential to cause more panic to the Australians than a national shortage of barbeque coals.

Starters: Tuilagi, O’Driscoll

Sub: Davies
Dirt Tracker: Roberts

Who would make up your Lions midfield?