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Joe Woodward, seen in action for Leicester against Northampton, is at the forefront of a new wave of accomplished English centres - Getty Images/David Rogers
In February 2023, during a press conference a couple of days prior to his second game as head coach, Steve Borthwick was discussing England’s midfield.
“As I look down the depth chart, there are some very good young centres in England,” he said, before a pregnant pause. “But they are young.”
The implication was that supporters would need to be patient for Borthwick to address a problematic position. Sure enough, two years on, there is mounting evidence to suggest that midfield could be an area of strength for England over the coming period.
A splurge of openside flankers has illustrated that these things are cyclical. Tighthead prop stocks are looking healthy again, for instance. And while Borthwick will still need to be bold with his selections, perhaps riding out some setbacks as youngsters adapt to the demands of higher levels, promising centres are beginning to establish themselves.
Joe Woodward has been among the best young players of this Premiership campaign. The 21-year-old has followed a typical path. He represented England Under-20s in the 2022-23 season before spending much of last term on loan to Nottingham in the Championship.
This year, Woodward’s form has been so good that he has established himself as a first-team regular, displacing Munster-bound Dan Kelly in the process. He is regarded as one of Leicester’s best ball-players and his performance on Friday evening, in a 33-0 thrashing of Northampton Saints, will have only reinforced that.
An assured display began with the telling involvement in Tigers’ opening try:
It is a subtle yet highly significant touch that creates the opening out of a relatively innocuous scenario. Watch Woodward from this angle. He scans the defence as Freddie Steward carries into contact before stepping up at first-receiver and jinking off his left foot. At the same time, he transfers the ball to his right hand to fend Rory Hutchinson with his left.
Tom Seabrook, the Saints left wing, jams in once Hutchinson is beaten, and Woodward has the awareness to flick an offload to a looping Handré Pollard, who outflanks Northampton by feeding Adam Radwan:
Here is a close-up, slow-motion replay of Woodward’s delicate pass:
Robust defence was a fundamental aspect of this Leicester victory and Woodward played his part. Look at his starting position here as George Hendy and Fraser Dingwall run flat angles off Fin Smith:
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Woodward has Dingwall covered and a ricochet falls to Hanro Liebenberg:
Despite wearing 12, Woodward seems to set up in the 13 channel outside either Solomone Kata or Izaia Perese where possible when Tigers are defending. He is rather wide here…
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…and presses up to snaffle another loose ball following Hutchinson’s errant pass. Woodward’s poise in space is striking. He buys time for his support and then throws an offload off the floor to Olly Cracknell to keep the attack alive:
Pollard subsequently found space in behind Saints close to the far touchline and earned a line-out from which they scored their third try.
Minutes later, Woodward was at first-receiver from this scrum. He eats up the space that Northampton offer him. With Pollard loitering out the back, he plays Kata on a short angle. An offload from Kata to Pollard then allows Leicester to find width:
There were trickier moments, naturally. Here, from a line-out, Woodward is again in the 13 channel:
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Saints run their trademark back-line pattern, with Smith arcing around in a second wave. Smith fixes Kata and sends James Ramm up the middle. Woodward must slam on the brakes and turn back, but does just enough to tap-tackle Ramm:
This is a critical intervention, as Leicester can scramble, with Steward pouncing for a jackal turnover.
Early in the second quarter, Dingwall makes a clever defensive read. England’s incumbent centre shoots up on a floaty pass from Jack van Poortvliet and clobbers Woodward, who is attempting either a short tip-on to Steward or a pull-back to Pollard. As it happens, the pass is somewhere in between and the ball goes to ground:
But Woodward regathered himself. Here, in the second half, we can identify him from another line-out:
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On the second phase, Saints run another “slider” play. Watch how Woodward swims off the decoy angle of Burger Odendaal onto Smith and then again onto Seabrook, completing a tackle and allowing Ollie Hassell-Collins to jackal:
This was Woodward’s last touch before being replaced. At first-receiver again, with Tigers running a “slider” pattern, he dinks into space beyond Ramm. This time, the ball dribbles beyond the try-line and out of the dead-ball area…
…but it hints at a broader set of skills that will become more prominent over time. Woodward has trained at fly-half for Tigers, and that much is obvious from his poise on the ball.
Back in January from this line-out, at a crucial juncture of an edgy contest against Exeter Chiefs just after Will Rigg had been yellow-carded, Woodward lines up in midfield from a five-man Tigers line-out:
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Watch how Tamati Tua bolts out of the defensive line in a bid to bury Woodward before a slick take-and-give sends Kelly carving through:
Hassell-Collins would score a couple of phases later.
Woodward had arrived as a replacement that day, yet appears to be in a strong position to hold down a starting role for the remainder of Leicester’s play-off push. This was one of two tries he registered in the friendly win over Munster earlier this month, Woodward cutting an angle close to the ruck and pirouetting past Ben Brownlee, a former Ireland Under-20 international and his opposite man, to score:
This weekend was an eye-catching one for potential England centres of the future. Rekeiti Ma’asi-White was impressive for Sale Sharks against Newcastle and is an intriguing prospect.
Watch here how his presence causes the Newcastle defence to bunch, leading to a line-break for Tom Roebuck after Rob du Preez’s pull-back to George Ford behind Ma’asi-White:
He had this try chalked off for a knock-on in the build-up…
…but flipped this offload to Joe Carpenter to bring about Tom O’Flaherty’s finish on the stroke of half-time:
Ma’asi-White was an England U20 colleague of Woodward, and has needed to wait for first-team chances at Sale. Friday was just his second Premiership start of a season he began on loan at Caldy.
Elsewhere around the league this weekend, we also saw the 20-year-old Ben Waghorn, excellent this season for Harlequins, scoring against Saracens from Oscar Beard’s bristling break:
Beard, himself just 23, must be in line for a Test debut this summer. In the absence of Ollie Lawrence for their tour of Argentina and USA, England will require an explosive carrier.
James Williams of Bristol Bears, a bit more experienced at 28, produced a highly influential showing in Saturday’s madcap contest against Exeter. Then, on Sunday at the Rec, the 22-year-old Seb Atkinson was in the 12 shirt for Gloucester. Bath started the 24-year-old Max Ojomoh and brought Will Butt, 25, off the bench.
Both of those men started for England A against Ireland in February, with Woodward having trained with the wider squad. The latter is on the radar, as he might well have been in 2023 when Borthwick made that cryptic allusion to talented up-and-comers.
None of this is to denigrate the 25-year-old Dingwall, a classy and unselfish operator who has shown admirable perseverance prior to a pair of accomplished performances against Italy and Wales to end the Six Nations. Where it once gave cause for coaches to worry, England’s depth chart is in an exciting place.
Match images from TNT Sports.
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