AS the one player to emerge with credit from England's awful autumn, Delon Armitage could signal a change in the team's fortunes and style, writes Iain Morrison
THERE WAS precious little for England to cheer about during the autumn Tests in which even the presence of their World Cup winning captain Martin Johnson, in his new guise as manager, failed to arrest a startling decline. The men in white were like
cardboard cut-outs compared with the side that, under the stewardship of Brian Ashton, had come within a few inches of snatching back-to-back World Cups in November 2007.
Johnson's men won just one of their four matches and that was against the scratch Pacific Islanders. In the following three Tests against the giants of Southern Hemisphere rugby, England lost the three-game series by the combined scoreline of 26-102. They managed just one try in 240 minutes of rugby while their opponents scored nine – and all of this took place on home turf.
Even worse than the humiliation on the scoreboard, England's vaunted pack of forwards came second in the scrum battle, losing their own put-in to both New Zealand and Australia. Back in 2003 a six-man English pack held the All Blacks at bay despite having two men in the sin bin. Little wonder that the Twickenham crowd booed the team off the pitch after witnessing their side slump to their biggest defeat ever at HQ against the Springboks.
But there was one survivor of the car crash series, one player who walked from the wreckage with his reputation enhanced: full-back Delon Armitage, who won the man of the match award against the Pacific Islanders with 83% of the vote and that on his Test debut.
The 25-year-old London Irish player has, as the saying goes, taken a long time to become an overnight sensation. He was first picked for the Saxons (England A team) way back in 2004 but some injury concerns and, more pointedly, his own attitude was holding him back, as his club coach Toby Booth explains.
"Two things have happened with Delon. He was very brash and abrasive but he has got a bit more mature and mellow and he has also worked very hard on additional aspects of his kicking game. He is very able, he has the skill set and is also a fierce competitor. The big occasion doesn't bother him."
For his part, Armitage returns the compliment to Booth, who first looked after his young charge when the full-back joined the London Irish academy as a tearaway teenager. One of his early nicknames that stuck a chord amongst his club colleagues was 'Mr Angry', and for good reason.
"I was lucky to have Toby as my academy manager because if he hadn't been there I would probably have got kicked out at a young age because of my discipline," Armitage admits. "I owe a lot of credit to him. He has always looked after me, he's wanted the best for me and thanks to him, he's helped me all the way.
"I was a little bit wild. I wanted to go partying as a young kid out of school but getting into that academy lifestyle and being professional, you have to cut it out. Toby got me through and I owe him great thanks for that."
The full-back is now a shoo-in for England's starting XV and he is already being mentioned as a Lions contender where his pace would come in handy on the hard grounds but, in a bizarre twist, Armitage could have been turning out for France in this tournament had the roll of the die been a little different.
The full-back was born in San Fernando, Trinidad, the second of five brothers; he was football mad and his original sporting hero was former Manchester United striker Dwight Yorke. The family left for a brief sojourn in England when his mother Verna married his English stepfather John Armitage after a holiday romance. They had barely unpacked the suitcases when the family upped sticks once more, this time moving to the south of France where Armitage and his brothers joined the Racing Club of Nice and came through the French system. The speedy youngster made quick progress, winning a trial for the French Under-16s where he bumped into a decent looking flanker by the name of Yannick Nyanga. Both players were ultimately rejected because they were deemed "too small and too skinny". While the duo are enjoying the last laugh, Armitage did not take rejection particularly well.
"That was one of the biggest disappointments of my life when that was said to me," he has since admitted. "I was on the brink of giving up rugby altogether. But my dad told me to forget all about that, that he was taking us back to England and that one day I'd play for England instead."
His stepfather's advice proved prophetic. The peripatetic family duly moved once more and, after a brief spell at Richmond, Armitage hooked up with Booth at Irish and the wayward teenager was put on the path that would lead to England glory and the upcoming Six Nations. Now the full-back is expected to line up alongside wingers Paul Sackey and Ugo Monye in what must be the quickest back three in the entire championship.
It seems a bit like a reversal of fortunes for the English but if their big men can provide some decent ball on the front foot, the team has the pace out wide to trouble even the best defence.
Armitage is just another sign of a subtle change in the composition of the England squad with Cipriani sharing his Caribbean background, Riki Flutey boasting Maori forefathers and hooker Dylan Hartley hailing from Rotorua, New Zealand. The ethnically diverse, cosmopolitan squad may lead to England adopting a new style of running rugby if, of course, that most English of coaches, Johnson, endorses it.
For now Armitage will be happy to continue his international adventure against Italy next Saturday and, if his head should swell with all the plaudits he's been getting, the England squad now contains just the person to bust that bubble. Another Armitage in the shape of younger brother Steffon, a breakaway who won promotion to the elite England squad after Lewis Moody broke an ankle in training. Should the pair play together they would be the first brothers to represent England since the Underwood brothers, Rory and Tony, back in 1992.
Whatever England's results in the coming months, Armitage at least should enjoy a successful tournament and, if his brother joins him on the pitch at some stage, it would be nice to think that the good people of San Fernando, Trinidad, will raise a glass to two long lost sons.
STRENGTHSThe back three have pace to burn. Fleet-footed half-backs Danny Care and Danny Cipriani have an eye for a gap.
WEAKNESSESThe front row is not the powerhouse it once was. Matt Stevens is in disgrace and both Phil Vickery and Julian White have plenty of miles on the clock.
ODDS: 7/2
CAPTAINSteve Borthwick took pelters for his side's performances last November. The big lock is an honest soldier and superb in the line-out but England may look elsewhere if the opening two matches go awry.
NEW KID ON THE BLOCKUgo Monye has been on fire for Harlequins and offers superb speed out wide.
PIN-UP BOYDanny Cipriani still hogs the headlines. After announcing that he was going to drop various extra-curricular activities, the out-half attended the opening of the Giorgio Armani collection in Milan alongside David Beckham… as you do.
YOU WOULDN'T WANT YOUR DAUGHTER DATING… Julian White tends to attract attention for the wrong reasons, even on the few occasions when he might be innocent.
IMPACT SUBHe may yet start but if not then Lee Mears is the dynamic hooker you want coming on with 20 to go. He is so small he actually goes under tackles and is unstoppable from five metres out.
SIX NATIONS RECORDSecond (on points difference) last time out under Brian Ashton but that was their best showing since winning the Grand Slam in 2003.
LAST SEASONEngland 19 Wales 26
Italy 19 England 23
France 13 England 24
Scotland 15 England 9
England 33 Ireland 10
HOME COMFORTSSouth Africa and New Zealand both had cricket scores at Twickenham in recent months. That said Scotland haven't won there since 1983.
NOT MANY PEOPLE KNOW THISDanny Care has "Care" stitched on to one boot and "Bear" stitched on to the other.
COACHMartin Johnson (left) faces as big a challenge as anything he faced on the field.
MOST LIKELY TO SAY"What was wrong with the old laws?"
LEAST LIKELY TO SAY"So I asked Cips if he knew of any good clubs in the West End?"
MISSING IN ACTIONMatt Stevens is paying a heavy price for his self-confessed drug problem, and so too are England who have lost their most dynamic prop.
