England star Chris Ashton set to hit South Africa hard
HIS bad back better, Chris Ashton scored three tries for England against the Barbarians after none at all in the Six Nations, so can claim to have recaptured some form in time for the Springboks.
But these have been awkward, occasionally traumatising post-World Cup months since he decided to leave Northampton for Saracens, so it is incumbent on him to show his selfless and unflashy side in Saturday’s first Test at King’s Park. It would not be before time.
“There are a few things that could change it, but in the first game we have to be as solid as we can and not give too much away,” he said.
“We can’t be throwing the ball around in the wrong areas. So if it’s on to run, we’ll run it. But if it’s not, we should be ready to play them at their own game, kick it back and get after it. It’s a trademark of how the Springboks play. Our back three will have our work cut out this weekend.”
The celebratory swallow-diving never does Ashton’s back any good, apart from being disagreeably ostentatious. As for his transfer, he thought it a good idea to join Andy Farrell at Vicarage Road. But instead it produced a row at Franklin’s Gardens.
There are a few things that could change it, but in the first game we have to be as solid as we can and not give too much away
And now Farrell, no longer coaching England after his temporary Six Nations role, has quit Saracens, where Ashton thought he would be able to form a Wigan double act with the rugby league legend.
“I’d never worked under him until he came in for the Six Nations and he was a massive help to me. One of the reasons why I signed to join Saracens was because Andy was at the club,” said Ashton. “When he coached England, it just made it even clearer why I’d chosen to go there. Hopefully, at some point down the line I’ll still have contact with him and he’ll still help me. I don’t think he’ll ever be too far away.”
If and when Farrell is reappointed as one of Stuart Lancaster’s acolytes within the English set-up, Ashton will then have the intermittent chance he thought he would have week by week next season. Farrell, meanwhile, is here only as a spectator and Lancaster has taken on much of the Farrell portfolio along with new backs coach Mike Catt.
“In the Six Nations, Stuart maybe took a bit of a step back and Andy was the loudmouth at the front,” said Ashton.
“But Stuart has taken more of a grip on it now and carried on where Andy left off.
“Coming in, Mike has done really well helping the lads with skills, especially the backs. He has different ideas and he has worked well. But it’s Stuart who has taken more of a grip on it than he had before and also now, with no more distractions, I am concentrating on my rugby.”
South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer has named three new caps in his pack – the boy mountain Eben Etzebeth, 20, Marcell Coetzee, 21, and ex-Northampton forward Juandre Kruger.
This is the first Test for Meyer, 44, as Springbok coach, indeed his first senior coaching since the six-month coaching stint with Leicester, which was aborted because of family illness back home three years ago.
He had given up coaching altogether after guiding the Bulls to the Super Rugby title in 2007 and then failing to get the South Africa job when Peter de Villiers was contentiously appointed that year.
“I thought it was the end of the road,” said Meyer.
“So I am thankful to Leicester. I had an unbelievable time there and but for them I would not have been back in rugby doing what I am today as coach of South Africa.”
