Sunday, January 13, 201324 TheRUGBYPaper Sunday, January 13, 2013 25TheRUGBYPaper

INTERVIEW>> DAN SCHOFIELD TALKS TO CAPTAIN CHRIS ROBSHAW ABOUT THE GROWING EXPECTATIONS HEAPED ON ENGLAND

CALUM CLARK is determined toprove he belongs in internationalrugby after being handed an Eng-land call-up but knows he willstruggle to change perceptions ofhis character.

The Northampton forward wasbeckoned back into England con-tention by head coach StuartLancaster when he named his RBS 6Nations squad.

Clark, 23, was on the fringes ofthe England team this time last yearwhen he was hit with a 32-week banfor breaking the elbow of Leicester

hooker Rob Hawkins in the LV= Cupfinal.

Clark, aware that views have beenformed about him on the basis of hisoffence, said: “People have theiropinions of me. All I’ve tried to do iskeep my head down and work hard.

“I’m not going out there to changepeople’s opinion of me, because theywill probably already have madetheir minds up.

“I’m going out there for my teamand for those who have supportedme.”

Neil Back believes the Northamp-

ton player is the nearest Englandhave to a genuine No7.

Back, England’s World Cup win-ning open-side who coached Clarkat Leeds, said: “England definitelyneed someone whose out-and-outresponsibility is to provide continu-ity and speed of ball at the contactarea and around the field. Calum, Ibelieve, has got that skill set.”

When he announced his squadlast year, Lancaster said he regardedClark as a seven and cited him, alongwith Andy Saull and Matt Kvesic, asgenuine England-qualified sevens

operating in the Premiership.Lancaster first gave Clark his

opportunity, inviting him to join theLeeds academy, which the Englandcoach then ran.

Lancaster said last year: “Calumfirst impressed me at 14 years old –I've never met or coached a morecompetitive player.

“Sometimes as a young player hestruggled to harness that and gotfrustrated but he’s learnt, maturedand has great leadership potential.

“He’s big, he’s physical, he’s athletic, he’s hungry, he’s tough and

I trust his character implicitly.”Clark’s character was questioned

after the incident that led to his 32-week ban. He had earlier been sentoff in the 2008 Junior World Cup finalagainst New Zealand for a head-butt.

He has made nine appearancesfor Northampton since his return.With Tom Croft feeling his way backafter a serious neck injury, his mostlikely involvement against Scotland– the country his father, Dave, playedfor at age-group level – would be onthe bench covering three positions.

ENGLAND SENIORELITE PLAYERSQUAD:FORWARDSProps: Alex Corbisiero(London Irish), Dan Cole(Leicester Tigers), Joe Marler(Harlequins), Mako Vunipola(Saracens), David Wilson (BathRugby); Hookers: Dylan Hartley(Northampton Saints), TomYoungs (Leicester Tigers); Locks: Joe Launchbury(London Wasps), CourtneyLawes (Northampton Saints),Geoff Parling (Leicester Tigers); Back-rows: Calum Clark(Northampton Saints), TomCroft (Leicester Tigers), JamesHaskell (London Wasps), TomJohnson (Exeter Chiefs), BenMorgan (Gloucester Rugby),Chris Robshaw (Harlequins),Thomas Waldrom (LeicesterTigers), Tom Wood(Northampton Saints).BACKSBack three: Chris Ashton(Saracens), Mike Brown(Harlequins), Ben Foden(Northampton Saints), AlexGoode (Saracens), DavidStrettle (Saracens); Centres: Brad Barritt(Saracens), Jonathan Joseph(London Irish), Manu Tuilagi(Leicester Tigers), BillyTwelvetrees (GloucesterRugby); Fly-halves: Freddie Burns(Gloucester Rugby), OwenFarrell (Saracens), Toby Flood(Leicester Tigers); Scrum-halves: Danny Care(Harlequins), Lee Dickson(Northampton Saints), BenYoungs (Leicester Tigers).

ENGLAND SAXONSELITE PLAYERSQUAD:FORWARDSProps: Nathan Catt (BathRugby), Paul Doran Jones(Northampton Saints), ShaunKnight (Gloucester Rugby),Matt Mullan (WorcesterWarriors), Henry Thomas (SaleSharks). Hookers: Joe Gray(Harlequins), David Paice(London Irish);Locks: Mouritz Botha(Saracens), Louis Deacon(Leicester Tigers), GrahamKitchener (Leicester Tigers),Tom Palmer (London Wasps),George Robson (Harlequins);Back-rows: Phil Dowson(Northampton Saints), WillFraser (Saracens), Matt Kvesic(Worcester Warriors), Ed Slater(Leicester Tigers), BillyVunipola (London Wasps).BACKSBack three: Nick Abendanon(Bath Rugby), Tom Biggs (BathRugby), Kyle Eastmond (BathRugby), Jonny May (GloucesterRugby), Ugo Monye(Harlequins), Charlie Sharples(Gloucester Rugby), ChristianWade (London Wasps)Centres: Anthony Allen(Leicester Tigers), Elliot Daly(London Wasps), George Lowe(Harlequins), Joel Tomkins(Saracens), Jordan Turner-Hall(Harlequins);Fly-halves: George Ford(Leicester Tigers);Scrum-halves: Joe Simpson(London Wasps), RichardWigglesworth (Saracens).

New feeling of pressure isexciting for us says Robshaw

Clark’s the ‘nearest England have to genuine No7’

Croft: I’msure Calumhas learnthis lesson

WHEN he wasunveiled as thesurprise choice ofEngland captain12 months ago,Chris Robshaw, byhis own admis-

sion, was a Test rookie with no pressure orexpectation to deal with.

The Harlequins flanker had a grandtotal of 53 minutes of international rugbyunder his belt (played three years previ-ously against Argentina), supervised byan even more inexperienced head coachand leading a team still festering in thepoisonous fallout from the World Cup.

A lot can change in 12 months, andnow Robshaw resembles Atlas with theweight of the world on his shoulders. Ofall the successes enjoyed in British sportin 2012, none was as unexpected as Eng-land’s 38-21 defeat of the All Blacks.

This was not a back-to-the-walls, grittydogfight but a ruthless dismantling of theworld champions who many still considerthe greatest team in history. The greatresult has bred even greater expectationgoing into the Six Nations opener againstScotland on February 2.

England are now in the polar oppositeposition to where they were a year agowhen they featured as underdogs bymany before the first fixture at Murray-field. Now they will be expected not tojust to win, but to win well against a Scot-land side who will do everything in theirpower to harass, spoil and drag Englandinto a scrap.

It is a no-win situation some would shyaway from – but Robshaw told The RugbyPaper he is relishing sustaining the stan-dard England have created forthemselves.

“We want to be at that New Zealandlevel of performance every time we goout there to play,” said Robshaw who hasyet to discuss the captaincy situation withStuart Lancaster for the Six Nations.

“You embrace the pressure andexpectation. It is a new feeling but a veryexciting one. It is a different one to what alot of us in the England set-up have previ-ously experienced, but one I know

everyone is looking forward to.“New Zealand is our benchmark.

Those are the standards we set ourselves.It is not about who we are playing, it isabout what we want to achieve. Of courseyou play certain teams and you have toplay certain ways and adapt.

“We are going into the Six Nations in amuch better position than we were 12months ago.

“Last year people really did not knowwhat to expect from us, there was nopressure on us whatsoever.

“We were a new side with a new coachand captain and it was pretty much justgo out and play.

“From the outside there was no pres-sure on us, no one was expectinganything. Now with the results recentlywe have set our own yardstick and wewant to kick on from there.”

There was also a large degree of per-sonal vindication for Robshaw in the NewZealand result. In his 10th and 11th inter-national appearances, the 26-year-oldwas savaged for his decisions in the clos-ing stages of the defeats to Australia andSouth Africa.

Even now Robshaw grimaces at thememory, but it was in the wake of thosedefeats that he saw England grow most asa team. The wagons were circled, hatcheswere battened and the All Blacks felt thebacklash.

“It is easy to do stuff when you are win-ning,” he said. “When you are winningthings get swept under the carpet butwhen you are losing the spotlight is on

you and it shows the character of thesquad.

“The week after South Africa everyonestuck together and worked hard, we hada real attention to detail throughout theweek and you saw what happened thatweekend.

“I would be lying if I said I wasn’t hurtby the criticism. It was probably when Iwent back to the camp on Sunday nightafter going home just to escape every-thing that I realised how supportiveeveryone was.

“I was going back head down a littlebit but the players told me ‘don’t worrywe will go out there and get it back’. Itgave me a real lift and really made meappreciate the spirit England have at themoment and having guys who will stickby you through thick and thin.”

Nevertheless Robshaw admits he wastaken aback by being placed in the eyeof the storm. A more genial soul you willstruggle to find, but his confidence wasknocked. It would be easy to attempt toconsign the memory to a dark recess ofthe mind, but for Robshaw the learningexperience was invaluable.

“You see other sports and other cap-tains but it is not until you experience itfor yourself, or at least the negative sideto it, that you realise how big a role it is,”he added.

“I am in that position now where ifsomething does go wrong on the job youmight get a bit of stick. It is how youbounce back from that and who you sur-round yourself with and how you goabout fixing it for next week.

“When you are on the pitch you don’tthink how is this decision going to playout in the Press?

“South Africa is one of those matcheswhere I will look back in the future and itwill be part of the experience I have builtup.”

Robshaw’s discomfort stems partlyfrom being far more at ease operating inthe shadows than in the spotlight.

He will never grab the attention in theway of a true a breakaway openside but

that does not make him any less impor-tant – the esteem in which he is held byteammates and coaches alike is testa-ment to that.

The key performance indicators oftackles made, most carries and rucks hitshow Robshaw top or near the top of allthose charts in the Autumn Internation-als. The personal duel against Richie

McCaw was won hands down by the two-time Premiership player of the year andeven the notoriously hard to pleaseWarren Gatland was wowed by Rob-shaw’s “violent attitude at thebreakdown”.

Whether that will be enough to securea Lions selection is too early to say with aSix Nations championship to overcome

and a Premiership crown to defend. Rob-shaw makes no attempt to pretend he fitsinto the scavenger mould generallyfavoured by Gatland.

“Am I an old-school, natural No 7?Probably not. Do I think it matters? Proba-bly not,” added Robshaw. “There areplenty of teams who operate very suc-cessfully without such a player.

“I have played across all three back-row positions but a large part of your rolein all of those positions is tackling, therest is just your personal style.

“It does not really bother me whatpeople say about me as an openside.What is crucial is not necessarily the indi-vidual performance but having aback-row that works well as a unit.

“Of course every player wants to go onthe Lions tour. It is that pinnacle andwhere people want to play, but as soon asyou start thinking about it you forgetabout the big Premiership, Heineken andSix Nations games.

“If you deserve to be on the plane thenyou will be more than likely will be. It hasbeen a crazy 12 months and now it isabout doing it again and doing it betterfor both England and Harlequins.”Chance: Calum Clark

“We want to be atthat New Zealandlevel of performanceevery time we goout there to play”

Arm wrestle:Chris Robshawgets to gripswith NewZealand captainRichie McCaw

PICTURE: GettyImages

Rollercoaster: Chris Robshaw tells Owen Farrell to kick for touch against South Africa, in action for Harlequins and right, celebrating the victory over New Zealand

TOM CROFt doesn’t hide hisanger at Calum Clark’s act ofthuggery which broke RobHawkins’ elbow last March,but the Leicester back rowhas vowed to bury the hatchetafter the pair were thrusttogether in England’s SixNations squad.

Leicester flanker Croft andrival Northampton back rowClark have missed the vastmajority of this season forvery differing reasons – Crofthas been recovering from abroken neck suffered in April,Clark received a 32-week banfor the Hawkins incident.

A close friend of Hawkins,Croft was seething when theTigers hooker’s season wasended, but in the spirit of for-giveness after Clark’ssubsequent remorse, he hasurged the Saints flanker tolearn from his mistakes andchannel his aggression con-structively towards the RedRose cause.

“As a Leicester player andwith Hawks being a veryclose mate I was pissed off tobe honest with the incident,”said Croft.

“But he has had his ban andhas learnt from it and nothingmore will be said about it. Ithink he has shown remorse.He apologised straight afterthe game and I think herealised the severity of whathe had done.

“Every now and again in agame of rugby you lose yourhead and do silly things.

“He has apologised onnumerous occasions and thatis the most important thing.

“The focus now has to beon what he does best and thatis playing rugby, not losingthe head and keeping control.That is a major thing at thislevel,” added Croft, speakingin his role as an ambassadorfor energy supplier SSE.

“He needs to be disci-plined but bring a physicalpresence.

“I think he has learnt fromhis mistakes and that is thesign of a good rugby player,not making the same mistakesover and over again.”

Clark’s promotion to thesenior England squad cameas a surprise – he has startedonly four Premiership gamessince his return in November– but it pales into comparison

to the journey Croft has taken.At the time of Wednesday’s

announcement Croft hadcompleted only 50 minutes ofrugby in eight months, and headmits that he remains a longshot to break back into theteam for the Six Nations.

Head coach Stuart Lancast-er has already ruled thereturning flanker out of Eng-land’s opener with Scotland atTwickenham and BillyVunipola will train with thesquad in his absence.

But with a Lions tour on thehorizon, Croft is eager tomake up for lost time.

Croft who came close tobeing paralysed in his acci-dental collision with NickEaster, added: “It is a bit of ashock to be involved withEngland.

“There is no guarantee thatI will return to full fitnessbefore the end of the SixNations. But it is always greatto be selected in the ElitePlayer Squad.

“From the outset of theinjury we were hoping for sixmonths recovery whichwould have brought me backaround November, so it hasbeen delayed and that wasfrustrating.

“Being selected for the SixNations makes up for it, but-there is no point rushing backand jeopardising my recov-ery.

“It is a huge tournament forthis side and off the back oftheir performance againstNew Zealand there is going tobe some expectation.

“Being a Lions year there isthat added bit of pressure.The majority won't be think-ing about it but it will be in theback of their minds, naggingaway.

“It seems a lifetime awayfor me but to be able back upa Lions tour with another onewould be a crowning momentin my career.”

■By RYAN WALTERS

Forgiving: Tom Croft