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England to borrow from Exeter's playbook to help establish dominant maul, says Matt Proudfoot

England forward coach Matt Proudfoot looks on prior to during the 2020 Guinness Six Nations match between France and England at Stade de France on February 02, 2020 in Paris. - GETTY IMAGES
England forward coach Matt Proudfoot looks on prior to during the 2020 Guinness Six Nations match between France and England at Stade de France on February 02, 2020 in Paris. - GETTY IMAGES

England have been studying the Exeter Chiefs’ playbook in an attempt to establish the most dominant maul in world rugby.

Despite selecting only three Chiefs in a 36-man squad for the autumn internationals, forwards coach Matt Proudfoot confirmed that he had been paying close attention to Exeter’s irresistible maul that laid the basis for a Premiership and Champions Cup double.

If the Exeter maul is the best at club level, so Proudfoot’s ambition is to make England’s the No 1 on the international stage. He has no qualms about borrowing from the Chiefs template that is so effective in the red zone. “Absolutely,” he said. “If you watch Exeter play, if you get three opportunities in the opposition 22 you need to take them all. That’s been the learning for us is how effective you need to be and understand how the opposition are defending it. Various countries have various different processes to defend it but the big learning for us from what Exeter have done is if they get [in the 22] three times they score three times. That’s the important thing.

“The players in the English pack love the maul. It is such a powerful weapon. It has definitely been my mindset with them is to help grow that with them. All the players live it.”

It is coming up to the anniversary of the Springboks’ World Cup triumph in which the maul, coached by Proudfoot, played such a fundamental part. Since then, Proudfoot argues it has become even more important. Just as head coach Eddie Jones this week observed a significant shift in midfield play over the past 12 months or so, Proudfoot believes the contest at the maul has also changed.

“There has been evolution in way teams defend a maul and we spent time analysing that,” Proudfoot said. “A lot of franchises and clubs have learnt from the World Cup you need to spend a lot of time stopping and defending mauls. We want it to be a weapon for us. It is one of the areas we have been spending a lot of time on. That’s what we have been doing right the way through lockdown. We started with the New Zealand teams and they mauled a lot more as well. All of a sudden, you are seeing New Zealand franchises mauling. That continued through every competition that started after the lockdown.”

Jonny Hill, the cornerstone of the Chiefs’ maul, has come into the England camp this week and is in contention to make his debut in the Six Nations finale against Italy on Saturday. While the uncapped Hill has been in England camps before, Tuesday was his first training session under Proudfoot and he made an instant impression.

“You almost expect a young guy to come in and be a bit shy but he has really imposed himself,” Proudfoot said. “Today in the session he carried a few balls and you could see there wasn’t much of a hangover from when he was playing for Exeter. We had a scrumming session today and I spoke to the front rows and asked, ‘What does he scrum like?’ they said, ‘He can scrum’. That’s great hearing that he wants to make an impression and has gained a rep from a senior player.”

Exeter Chiefs' Jonny Hill in action during the Gallagher Premiership Rugby final match between Exeter Chiefs and Wasps at Sandy Park on October 24, 2020 in Exeter, England. - GETTY IMAGES
Exeter Chiefs' Jonny Hill in action during the Gallagher Premiership Rugby final match between Exeter Chiefs and Wasps at Sandy Park on October 24, 2020 in Exeter, England. - GETTY IMAGES

If the maul forms one half of Proudfoot’s obsession, then his love of the scrum fills the rest of his heart. As the Springboks’ forwards coach, Proudfoot’s remit was to develop two sets of world-class front rows, the evidence of which was shown in the demolition job committed on England’s scrum in the World Cup final. With England’s vast resources combining the gnarled experience of Joe Marler and the youthful promise of Joe Heyes, Proudfoot believes he could “mould three front rows out of it. Even four front rows”.

If he is to harness their full potential, then Proudfoot believes in allowing characters as diverse as Ellis Genge to Harry Williams to flourish as individual personalities. “I don’t want them to fit into a box,” Proudfoot said. “They have to create a box that they feel is the best version of themselves. My role is to help them find that.

“The interesting thing for me is to learn the personalities and really understand who the individual is and what their strengths are. I don’t handle Kyle [Sinckler] the way I would handle Will Stuart. It is really a privilege to work with these great players.”