A Comparison of Wood and Robshaw

I thought it would be interesting to compare the two leading candidates to captain England in the six nations; Chris Robshaw and Tom Wood. Looking at key areas such as leadership experience, international experience, attack, defence and set piece.

Leadership Experience

Robshaw took over from Will Skinner as the Harlequins captain at the start of last season and has led the team by example and shown good communication and decision making in the role. He has also captained the England midweek team on tour to Australia and the England Saxons on a couple of occasions. He led Harlequins to Amlin Challenge Cup victory last season and 13 games unbeaten at the start of this season.

Wood has little leadership experience, with Dylan Hartley the Northampton captain and Phil Dowson the vice-captain. However Northampton coach Jim Mallinder believe Tom, although a quiet lad from Coventry could lead England.

International Experience

Robshaw has one singular England cap, with many people including myself believing he has deserved to earn many more. He has been the most consistent flanker in the premiership for the past four seasons and despite having few weaknesses failed to gain further recognition from Martin Johnson, than the one cap in the defeat to Argentina in Salta in 2009.

Wood has nine England caps. Chosen ahead of Robshaw for the 2011 six nations championship, he played well alongside Haskell and Easter in the backrow, keeping Croft who had returned from injury towards the end of the tournament on the bench. However the rest of his appearances have been in more low key games in the WC or off of the bench, as Haskell, Croft and the partially fit Moody were preferred ahead of him.

Attack

Robshaw's work rate in attack is extremely high, he is used very effectively for Quins as a link-man and a ball carrier. He is a very good passer of the ball and reads the game well, whilst he never goes backwards when making a carry. He is also very effective at providing fast ball at the breakdown for his attacking side.

Wood isn't the strongest ball carrier in the tight, but in open space he is effective and quick. Not a particularly strong link-man, he's skinny frame does mean that he can get dumped quite easily. His pace and fitness means he is a useful support player.

Defence

Robshaw is arguably the best tackling flanker in the premiership, being in the top 5 of the tackle counts for the past five seasons. His defensive workrate is phenomenal, he also leads the defensive line for Quins and can be seen making big hits, cover tackles and he is highly effective at slowing the oppositions ball down without being penalised at the breakdown.

Wood is a good tackler and isn't afraid to throw himself at opponents and can use his pace quite effectively. Wood is also more effective than Robshaw at winning turnovers at the breakdown, however only marginally with neither player an out and out traditional seven.

Set Piece

Robshaw is a lineout option for Quins, mostly used at the back effectively. Robshaw has experience of playing at no.8 for Quins as cover for injuries and performed very well.

Wood is a key component of the lineout for Saints and although not as effective as Croft, is a very useful option here. Wood played at no.8 a few times at age grade rugby.

Both players have extremely good engines and a high work-rate. In my opinion I feel Robshaw should be captain as he is the more complete player and has more leadership experience, however some people doubt whether he has the pace for international rugby and then there is the question of where he plays at blindside at the expense of Croft? at openside at the expense of Wood? or at no.8 a position he doesn't normally play for his club. Wood is in a similar boat of whether he can get in the team as well, competing with Robshaw and Croft for the flanker spots, whilst I believe he is quite lightweight for international rugby and this may get exposed, Dallaglio believes his experience in the international set-up and his enthusiasm should see him appointed captain ahead of Robshaw, but for me the Quins captain despite his limited international experience has to be made captain.


Who would be your pick and your England captain?

I think Robshaw should be made Captain, simply on the basis that he has captaind Quins, and captaind them well since he took over.

Wood on the other hand has more England experience than Robshaw but i just think that Robshaw's experience of being captain of the team he plays for, should tip the balance in his favour.

Both are outstanding players, But I went for Robshaw. Has more leadership experience. Seems a very decent, honest and hard working player.

is a poster named 'robshaw4england' really the best person to write this comparison? the vote is skewed in robshaws favour from the start

sod it chuck em both in, england dont exactly have anything to lose

back row of robshaw wood morgan

ever so slightly biased opinion of Robshaw in the OP's original analysis, that said i'm more of a fan of Robshaw, whereas I feel Wood can go missing in games Robshaw is consistently brilliant.

Not all good club players make the step up to International rugby (and some players do better for their international teams than their club sides sometimes) but Wood has proved he is good enough to play at the very top level, Robshaw has not. Let him establish himself in the first 15/22 first and then take it from there. Plus, as proven in the Saints game on Friday he is pretty good at winding the ref up, just like Borthwick managed to do when he was England captain.

For the record I wouldn't start with Robshaw against Scotland but he would be on the bench. Plus I wanted to try and even the sides up a little due to the original poster

It's a fairly limited poll. I'd probably be looking at Hartley to take the captaincy, at least in the short-term, as he's fit, one of the few people garunteed a starting position and has leadership experience (leading the Saints to the Heineken Cup final). Then if a better leader emerges he can be given the captaincy.

B91212 wrote:Not all good club players make the step up to International rugby (and some players do better for their international teams than their club sides sometimes) but Wood has proved he is good enough to play at the very top level, Robshaw has not. Let him establish himself in the first 15/22 first and then take it from there. Plus, as proven in the Saints game on Friday he is pretty good at winding the ref up, just like Borthwick managed to do when he was England captain.

For the record I wouldn't start with Robshaw against Scotland but he would be on the bench. Plus I wanted to try and even the sides up a little due to the original poster

Well you just about said everything I was going to say - shock there, eh? The only pont I want to add is that Wood was England's best player during the last 6 Nations. So he has proven himself quite ably at the top level. He was injured at the end of last season which kept him out of the Heineken Cup final and the Premeirship playoffs. That put him behind during preparation for the RWC. I also believe Robshaw needs to earn a place in the starting 15 before being thought of as Captain material. But I certainly hope he makes the jump and does as well at the top level as with Quins. That would be fantastic for England.

Id give the temp captaincy to Hartley...who is doing a good job for his club...and it might bring on his performances a little aswell.

Robshaw looks a definate to start and whilst i would start Wood...i think its between him and Croft for the 6 spot...

Robshaw is not a definite starter, as apparently Lancaster agrees with Mallinder and sees Wood as a 7. It is even possible that Lancaster may prefer Dowson over Robshaw.

Personally I would like to see Robshaw in the team - but not as captain - as I want to see if he is able to make the step up (As well documented here, I do not believe he has any individual area of his game strong enough to shine at international level - but would love to be wrong).

Why would I not want "the best leader" in the AP as my captain? Well because when I watch the Quins team when they are under the cosh it is usually Care and Easter who are trying to motivate the players to turn things around.

Similarly to the last few posts really. I don't feel for one minute that you can expect a player, however well they may be playing/captaining in the league to step up on their first cap and be Captain of their national side. Not only would it be unfair on them, I think it would have a real adverse effect on the rest of the team.

Put yourself in someone like Hartley's position for example. Now whilst he wouldn't be my choice as captain, how is he going to react to a new player coming in as Captain, attempting to lead a side he has never met before during a game the like of which he has never really played before...?! When you factor other's such as Tom Croft into the mix, with Lions experience on top of that, how do you think it would impact upon those players? I sure as hell know what my response would be.

Robshaw could indeed be a good player on the international stage, and that is to be hoped for. Indeed reading the advert for his Captaincy from the OP i'm even more convinced he will be. But as has been said, he needs to prove himself a nailed on starter in the team first, and at least get one tournament under his belt!