Whilst it’s unknown whether rugby exists as a popular sport in the quidditch dominated world of Harry Potter, we could well be set for an on-field cross over from the wizarding world this weekend. The Wallabies head to the Allianz Stadium for this Saturday’s Autumn Series clash, and they have a magician in their ranks who’s ready to return to England.
Fans of the Premiership would likely remember the ‘magical’ puns, as former Leicester Tigers back Harry Potter made a name for himself in the East Midlands. Potter was on the fringes of an England call-up before he departed Welford Road and headed down under to pursue an international career with the Wallabies. Potter signed for Super Rugby franchise Western Force, and the versatile flyer has since been called up by Joe Schmidt for the Autumn Nations Series.
A man who certainly knows his Hogwarts is Martin Bayfield, as the former England lock also starred as Hagrid in a non-talking ‘stunt’ role, in the on-screen adaptation of J.K Rowling’s books. In a unique colliding of two polarising worlds, Bayfield expressed his excitement in the prospect of Potter’s comeback to England. The newly announced Premier Sports pundit used to reel in the wizard references, when he covered the outside back in his Leicester days.
“You’re talking to a guy who has a vested interest in anything to do with Harry Potter!” Bayfield told Ruck at the Premier Sports EPCR Season launch in London. “So I used to fight with myself, don’t say ‘You’re a winger, Harry’, Now it’s ‘You’re an Aussie, Harry’. I think it’s one of the one of the interesting factors to watch is the development of Australian Rugby.
“Where do they go? What do they do? The decline is staunch. You talk to players from back in the day, yeah. Nick Farr-Jones said, when he and Michael Lynagh, when they won it ’91 (1991 Rugby World Cup) they did not believe that anyone would turn up for the ticket take parade through city. Didn’t believe anyone did. No one’s interested. And there was a big crowd.”
England take on the Wallabies this Saturday, in their second match of the Autumn Nations Series. head coach Steve Borthwick has not made any changes to personnel this week in the starting XV, with all of his players retained to lead from kick off against the Australians.
England will be looking to bounce back from a devastating defeat to the All Blacks, in what was a bitter loss to take last Saturday at the Allianz. The battle with New Zealand was decided in the final plays of the match, with replacement fly half George Ford missing two decisive kicks that would have secured a first home victory against the All Blacks since 2012.
Turning his attention away from his days as Hogwart’s Groundskeeper, Bayfield switched back into rugby analysis mode, and has faith in Steve Borthwick’s unchanged side for this weekend’s battle with the Wallabies. The 34-capped England international reviewed the heavily debated substitutions from the All Blacks defeat, with fans and pundits alike questioning the decision to remove Marcus Smith for George Ford at the hour mark, Bayfield said;
“I’m not surprised he hasn’t changed the team. He didn’t need changing. They got themselves in a position to win for whatever reason they didn’t win it. Was it the substitutions. I don’t know more analytical minds of mine will look at that. I thought it was strange. He was a bit early to make those changes. But anyway, there they are.”
The variations to the England squad come upon the replacements bench, with Borthwick altering his 6-2 forwards heavy split from the All Blacks game, back to the traditional 5-3 balance. This opens up the door for a back-three flyer to enter the mix, with Northampton’s Ollie Sleightholme called up for his first taste of action this Autumn. Aside from having a slight East Midland’s bias, Bayfield is delighted to see the dangerous wing named in the number 23 shirt.
“I’m glad to see Ollie Sleightholme, and not just because he’s a Saints player, son off, a lot of son offs around, but he is a player who scares the opposition.”
“His strength close to the line, the ability to push up the touch line create more space for himself, not to die with the ball, just to keep going. He’s essential. He just gives a focus for the players to follow. Talk about the yard after contact, but if you can make that still on your feet, not just stretching it through as the opposition guessing, I really like the look at that.”
There is also a tactical change bringing Luke Cowan-Dickie back into the squad, with Theo Dan left out of the match day 23. Despite Dan having sustained a head clash with Anton Lienert-Brown in the closing stages of the battle at the Allianz, it has been cleared up that the Saracen is match fit. Bayfield believes that the re-calling of the Sale Sharks hooker adds an extra physical edge to the England front row.
“Cowan-Dickie, it may well be to sure up the front row. So thinking that they made the changes and Baxter comes on, do they feel they need a bigger hooker just to hold that front row?
“It’d be no surprise to me if they’re thinking they might attack the Australian front row, the Australian scrum has historically been there Achilles heel. Can think of so many cases where that’s been a problem, so hit them hard. Keep them under pressure up front.”
There was plenty of reaction from England fans, after George Ford was named back on the bench after a disappointing return to the Test match stage. Whilst the loss can not only be pinned on the Sale halfback, question marks were raised around why Fin Smith continues to go unused by Steve Borthwick. Bayfield believes that it is a sign that the England head coach is confident in Ford, as Borthwick continues to back the 31-year-old to deliver the goods.
“No change in the starting 15, I can see a little bit with Steve. It’s only my personal things. I think he’s trying to put the message out, particularly with George Ford, bringing him back into the squad, that ‘you were my guy before you got injured, nothing’s changed. You’re still my guy. So don’t feel that just because you got injured you’ve got to start from the bottom and claw your way back up again’.
“It would have been great to keep Fin Smith. I think Smith was unlucky, but I can see Steve Borthwick is almost trying to get to that point where it’s tough to get into this England team. It’s even tougher to get out of this England team if you’re doing the job, ‘I’ll back you. I’ll trust you. Keep going’. That might be it.”
Another one of Bayfield’s England favourites to also star in the green, black and gold of his beloved Saints is George Furbank. It has not been the most straightforward run to a constitent role in the England set-up for the fullback, with Bayfield delighted to see how Furbank has rallied back from his initial spell in the side during the Eddie Jones era.
‘You’ve got Furbank who can cover if he needs be. He can cover 10. You’ve got Freeman who can come into the midfield if need to be. That makes that really interesting, really interesting. Furbank is an interesting one isn’t he, fascinates me that he had the debut from hell against France.
“He did some really good things, but it was uncomfortable for him. Then he sort of fell away. But my God, he’s sorted himself hasn’t he. I was out in New Zealand in the summer and the Kiwis loved him.
“Him (Furbank), Freeman and Sleightholme, they loved him. They really thought, hang on, these guys are dangerous Sleightholme he only had two brief cameos. He (Sleightholme) was off the bench. They loved him. They really liked him. So it’s a good team there.”
A final Saint shouted out by the former Northampton lock, is a recent call up for the England A squad. Archie McParland has emerged in the Northampton nine jersey, with the scrum half making the most of the vacancy left by the side-lined Alex Mitchell.
What I really love is putting out an A team and playing the Australian As, that’s really good. That gives guys an opportunity to show Steve what we can do. I look to the (England A) squad today, so they’ve got the Saints scrum half (Archie McParland). So he would be their third choice scrum half because of injuries to (Alex) Mitchell and Tom James,. He’s now got himself an England A game. Brilliant.”
