England's Dilemma: The Half Back Pair
Before the world cup last year many England fans and pundits, including myself, were touting Ben Youngs and Toby Flood as the best half back pairing England had to offer. Some classy and consistent performances from Autumn 2010 to the end of the 6 Nations in 2011 Youngs and Flood combined with great fluidity to inspire some truly impressive England performances.
However since the debacle of the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, Flood and Youngs have each suffered injuries and have since struggled to get England and their club side Leicester firing on all cylinders like they did before. So is the tried and tested half back pairing from Leicester Tigers worth sticking with or should we be looking to a new pairing such as the one that faced off against Wales?
The Weigh Up
Youngs and Flood:
Of the two combinations we are exploring here this is the more experienced. The experience of Flood and Youngs at international level far outweighs that of Dickson and Farrell. In recent weeks Youngs has struggled to produce the quick ball we have become accustom to. It seems if anything he has lost a degree of match sharpness. His willingness to pump out inaccurate box kicks has been hampering England's ability to go forward. There has also been very few dynamic breaks off the back of ruck's which tore defences apart last year.
Flood is a little unlucky to be drawn into this analysis as he has only very recently returned from injury but this is a comparison of the pair and his form since last years 6 Nations hasn't been as sparkling as England fans might have been expecting from the Leicester fly half. During the World Cup Flood's appearances were a bit sporadic and Flood didn't really get going, much like the England team themselves.
Dickson and Farrell:
I may be jumping the gun a bit naming these two as a partnership after they have only really played and hour of rugby together at 9 and 10 but in that 60 minutes England looked like a different team. They looked more like the team the fans want to see. Dickson produced quick ball and spread the ball beautifully against Wales, his combination play with Farrell made England look more dangerous than they have all tournament despite not technically scoring a try. Dickson is described by many of his team mates at Northampton as the heartbeat of the team. He plays with passion, style and most importantly for me, commitment. Dickson's box kicking although not the best in the business it is still shades better than Youngs' box kicking offerings. Dickson's biggest weakness or flaw could be his enthusiasm for stealing the ball. Be it a ruck or a scrum Dickson plays it close to the wire when it comes to turning over opposition ball. The prodigious talent Owen Farrell is definitely being loaded up with a large amount of pressure and responsibility but the young Sarrie seems to be taking it all in his stride.
Initially brought into the side at centre which is arguably his best position he is no stranger to the number 10 jersey and is more than capable of stepping into that role. Farrell has a displayed a tremendous level of composure in his career and continues to show his on field maturity week in week out. Farrell's skills and performances speak for themselves. We all know what he is capable of and that he should be in this squad, is the question simply where?
For mew the pairing of Dickson and Farrell is the right one for England right now. They are the in form players and with Farrell at 10 it opens a lot more options such as the centre partnership of Barritt and Tuilagi. It creates a great level of competition for places as well which there should always be in a top rugby squad.
Ben Youngs and Toby Flood need to be proving themselves once again at club level before they are rewarded with starting roles in the England team.
Credit - Getty Images and the RFU
