Steve Borthwick will continue his divisional championship rounds this weekend, checking his own England incumbents and scouting for any valuable additions to their team up front Nations Championship discover 2n.d November.
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Several limitless possibilities are presented. Hoskins Sotutu, the Newcastle number eight, possible; Nathan Jibulu, the Sale hooker after his performance in Saracens on weekends, maybe; but the favorite to win the first game this fall has to be Archie McParland.
Any scrum-half that can contain Alex Mitchell in the opening fortnight of the season, as the 21-year-old did at Northampton, must be doing pretty well. Like Mitchell, he is a constant threat with his pace off the mark and an excellent support runner who has turned heads in high positions. There is every chance that two Saints nines are involved in England.
“It would be huge,” McParland said. “I made it my goal to be a rugby player at the age of six and have the opportunity to play for England. My main goal now is to get into the team and hopefully play this autumn.
“To be able to do that, I have to perform here at Saints and show that I’m the standard for selection.”
McParland came within a whisker of an England call-up in the summer after an eye-catching second half last season. It was fueled by a breakthrough game against the team Northampton face this weekend, Bath. Second-string Saints sent to The Rec demolished the then-champions 41-21, led by their young scrum half.
“The game boosted my confidence,” he said. “I felt like on the back of that I believed I could do it at that level. It’s a game I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”
“Before that game, in my mind, I didn’t feel free. But I talked to the coaches, I talked to the psychologist at the club, and also my parents and I wanted to enter that game, where I could feel really free.
“We’ve already been written off, we’ve already lost it in the eyes of the fans and so it felt like a game where I didn’t have much to lose. Obviously there’s a lot to lose because winning is important, but it was a game I went into feeling freer and as time went on in the game I felt even more free.”
I was really excited about it, so falling out of the top 15 was tough. But to be honest, all I was focused on was the huge hole in my leg. I was a little terrified.
With Mitchell injured, McParland was handed the reins at half-time and relished the opportunity. Last season he scored 14 tries in 25 games, winning the club’s young player of the year award.
He would, in all likelihood, have been part of Borthwick’s squad training with the national team in the later stages of the season, but was ruled out after picking up an injury early in the Prem final that would curdle your cereal milk. Covering to tackle Exeter’s Campbell Riddle, his quad was exposed, bacon-cutter-style by Bosses wing’s studs, a wound that required 38 stitches.
“It wasn’t great. It was such a big occasion and I was really excited about it, so to be out of the top 15 was gut-wrenching. But to be honest, all I was focused on was the huge hole in my leg. I was a bit terrified,” he said.
“I’ve never seen anything like it and it was weird because there wasn’t a massive crash or anything, it was just so normal. I was just unlucky. I don’t know what the hell happened there – maybe he was wearing daggers on the end of those boots.”
“After everything was sewn up, I went on the court and caught the last 10 minutes of the game, and the end made me a lot better.”
To make matters worse, after joining the Saints’ victory parade, he had to spend a week in the hospital because the cut developed an infection.
“It wasn’t the best time again. I was on a drip for about five or six days, but I was lucky to have a lot of support around me to pull me through,” he said.
In yet another unfortunate moment, McParland had to leave the England team in September due to illness, but, mended and rebuilt, he made a strong start to the season.
The main thing is where I will develop the most. I’m still young, I still have a lot of development and growth to do. What I do next depends on where it is.
Stowe schooled alongside Henry Pollock, he is much more of an introvert than his brash friend, but clearly a resilient sort.
Northampton director of rugby Phil Dowson’s decision to give him his first two starts ahead of Mitchell illustrates how his stock has risen at the club. Although McParland is eight years younger than Mitchell, this is no longer a master-apprentice relationship, but a meeting of equals.
“I knew before the season started that I was going to start the first two games. Mitch and I know what games we’re going to play in the next few weeks leading up to the fall internationals,” he said.
“It changes for other people in the team in other positions and injuries and performance can come into it, but it’s a bit of a guideline.
“The playing time will be split, which will be good, I think. You don’t want to overplay.”
“It’s great to have Mitch by my side. We get along well. We have a good relationship. We’re just competing every day trying to get better. We push each other in practice, we push each other in everything we do and it’s only going to be good for both of us.”
The dynamic is especially interesting given that McParland’s contract expires at the end of the season. Northampton will of course want to keep him, but will a deal to share the Saints number nine shirt be enough to keep hold of a player with so much promise?
“The main thing is where I will develop the most. I am still young, I still have a lot of development in me and growth. What I will do next depends on where it is,” he said.
“We have very good coaches and a very good team here and I’m much better than that.”
That sounds good for the Saints. There is a but, however…
“I’m a big believer in the more you play, the better you get. Training is definitely different to game day, so that’s a huge aspect,” he added.
“If I play 80 minutes a week somewhere else, then it might be better for me, but in the long run, I can get injured if I overplay a bit. So it’s a decision I have to make.”
“I’m happy at Saints. It’s a great club. But we’ll see what happens.”
The Northampton scrum-half pipeline is jam-packed with talent. Below Mitchell and McParland, they have current England Under-20s Jonny Weimann and England U18s Sonny Goode. So there are other options.
But the fact is with McParland flourishing, the M and M double act is a sweet treat that outshines almost every other scrum-half combination in the league.