Forget The Fuss About 'Fetchers': Why Ross Rennie Will Be Watched After This Year's 6 Nations
Who is the best 7 in the British Isles at the moment? It is a tough question to ask.
7 is a versatile position where one team can benefit from playing a quiet, knuckle dragging tearaway that follows the ball and kills it or protects it. Other teams need a tackling machine that is quick off the mark and sets early so as to protect his 10. Some teams want a link man who is able to carry the ball stretch play, because his skills are good enough to mix it on the fringes of the forwards and supply the backs.
Every team has specific needs. In Ireland they need a back-row that goes forward because that is where the majority of forward's yards come from. In Scotland they normally need a 7 who can offload and come round the corner as well as slowing play at the second phase to let an out of sorts defence settle. In Wales they need a 7 who can play at a volume, offering plenty of carries and being a leader in a team rush defence, without tearing ahead and trying to grab glory. In England the 7 is traditionally a cog, making tackles and charging kicks. He is hyped, but in England that 7 is expected to have scabs on his face and bloody knuckles.
A lot of nonsensical jargon words get heaved at 7s. None of them are fair descriptions of a nuanced position. This is the case simply because every team needs a different player. Most saw McCaw and Pocock and started saying every single team in the World needs a 'fetcher'. They don't and the word is a hideous stereotype.
Dog; Nugget; Destroyer. There are many ways to be an openside.
So if we looked at the last 6 Nations championship, who was the best 7? Well the Dusautoir and Zanni flanks have to be chopped off for the basis of this argument because they do not reside in the British Isles. Dusautoir is the perfect 7 really because he can do it all: link, hit, kill ball, steal ball, run, score. With Italy's Zanni it is more of a case of all-action, no finesse. He is a good player and he makes yards, but you get the impression that if he played with a tracksuit top on he would create a lot of static charge. He pumps his arms and he plunges forward, but sometimes he could pass somewhere to more effect.
England had a cog at 7 for this championship. Robshaw played like a 6. He did not run balls back from kicks, he did not steal huge amounts of ball he did not look like a 'fetcher'. However, despite all the bleating about this, he did a good job. England did not need a remarkable player. They needed a team man who could tie things together. He won't win any rewards, but he made contacts so Croft could run and he is the Leicester man's perfect flanker foil.
Ireland also did not have a 7, but they had three go forward back-rowers playing for most of the tournament. O'Mahony did certainly play like more of a traditional nose-to-ground 7, but O'Brien played like a running 6. Neither are the Pocock-mould 'fetcher' but again that was not needed in this 6 Nations because Ireland have other uses for their 7 and people already performing killing duties. Their whole pack is well versed at slowing down ball. At 7 what they actually need is a link to the backs so that whoever is at 9 does not have to tick like a metronome constantly.
So that leaves Ross Rennie and the victorious Sam Warburton.
Warburton was my 7 in all of the teams of the tournament, but that was because of one cover tackle against Manu Tuilagi and because he was caption (for most of the tournament) within an all-conquering Welsh side. In truth he was good, but not standout good. He made some telling tackles and communicated well, looked dynamic and supported well but he was never going to be called a game winner. On the other hand, Rennie did not win a game. At all.
With Rennie, though, he performed a number of roles for Scotland. He carried at pace. He spun, he moved and he flicked passes to other players. He was hasty in his play and he was decisive. Defensively, too, he made a big difference. On several occasions he tore ball out of attacker's hands. He sniffed for ball on the deck and covered up some attacking options but he was not penalised off the park. Rennie looked like he could do this for any team. He looked like a rounded 7. Not a 'fetcher', 'Dog' or 9th back. He was all of them.
Warburton is certainly capable of all of these things, too, which is why he will likely be the Lions 7 in 2013, but he has to be fit, which he clearly wasn't in this tournament. Still, to be unfit and play like that is impressive.
Ross Rennie was exciting to watch. He was, in my opinion, the best 7 in this tournament. As he plays in an Edinburgh side making the Heineken Cup quarter finals he will be looked at more closely. He is also one of a few 7s played at Edinburgh right now. Do not be surprised if other people are looking at him too...
