Hail to the Thirtysomethings

Tuesday April 01 2003

After a masterful England performance in Dublin to clinch the RBS Six Nations title and the Grand Slam, Stephen Jones of The Sunday Times pays tribute to four veterans in the team's ranks who seem to be improving with age.

 

Well, how is your recovery going? Moments for sober reflection were few and far between on Sunday in Dublin, whether you were drowning your sorrows, celebrating a Grand Slam, or whether you were a neutral revelling in the memories of a fantastic match. But now that the fury has died down my judgement is the same as it was on the final whistle. It was, in all the circumstances, the best England performance I have ever seen.

There were so many satisfactory aspects but I judge that the chief reason for joy lies in the performances of the older England players. You come across many commentators desperate to retire players, who talk about the need to bring in fresh faces whenever a player gets towards his 30s.

It is garbage, of course, because if you ditch players too early you might miss out on their golden years but you also chuck out a wealth of experience. Lansdowne Road on March 30 was no place for fresh faces unless you were Conor ODonohue or Nicole Chesser, the two mascots. I have never been in favour of picking teams for a point in the future, which never comes.

However, when this season started there was anxiety - because England do have a number of people on their squad towards the end of their international careers and such is the intensity of this season, there is no doubt that Clive Woodward has been monitoring carefully the form of Jason Leonard (who will be 35 at the World Cup); Martin Johnson (33); Neil Back (34) and Lawrence Dallaglio (31). There was always the chance that at least one would be seen to be in sudden decline and the fear was that this obvious decline might show itself too near to the World Cup itself to bring a new player up to full speed.

The evidence of Dublin, frankly, indicated that if anything, this quartet is still improving. The signature of the great form of the post-30 brigade was probably the outstanding performance of the remarkable Leonard. He was all over the field; he helped the England front five do a spectacular number on the Irish forwards. He made his tackles, too.

And what happened at the end? It had been a match played at a searing pace and England seized on a turnover right at the very end, after the referee had indicated that the next stoppage would bring the final whistle. After a multi-phased move there was our Jase popping up at outside centre to deliver a careful pass to Josh Lewsey who then sent over Dan Luger for a try. For a grizzled old front row forward, that was some feat. He played so well, indeed, that Phil Vickery's return after injury may not automatically lead to Leonard dropping out.

It was the same with the other so-called veterans. Back had a remarkable match. It recalled his great days when he was on the ball so much, was so heavily involved, that it seemed there must be at least three Backs on the field. Johnson was also at his best - immovable when he was asked to move down the red carpet so that Mary McAleese, the president of Ireland, had to get her shoes dirty to meet her own team. Tut, tut, Johnno.

But on the burst around the fringes, with his tackling, his locking-up of his own ball, and his leadership, he was immaculate. It is amazing how easily the years hang on his shoulders. He will be leading England into the World Cup with the intensity undimmed. If I were the Australian hosts, I'd allow him to pick his own carpet.

Dallaglio, possibly, has had the biggest doubts over him, purely because the severity of his knee injury raised the question as to whether he would ever be so fit and so fast again. He has had some superb games this season though I felt he was a degree under against Scotland at Twickenham recently.

Against Ireland, he was my Man of the match. He was simply brilliant. His power and pace taking the ball up was remarkable, he poached some wonderful balls on the floor, and scored the try which helped settle all the England nerves. He was another Englishman past 30 to last the course and to be still battling till the end. It was an effort, which recalled his greatest days.

The fading four? More like the four to follow. A few more performances like those at Lansdowne Road and we'll be starting to speculate whether the old contemptibles will be contenders for the World Cup in 2007. So form is temporary? Maybe not.