In Bradley Barritt and Owen Farrell, England at last have a centre pair who can bring the best out of each other according to the Sunday Times' Stephen Jones. (Via paywall)
"One television critic described Hale and Pace as the only comedy double act with two straight men. If the classic centre partnership is to have a hard-running, hard-tackling inside-centre alongside a smaller, faster and more talented man, you could say England’s most recent centre partnership, that of Shontayne Hape and Mike Tindall, also contained two straight men.
"The pairing was startlingly, even crudely, ineffective at the World Cup and was never remotely complementary. England have now been waiting almost eight years to find a regular and effective combination in the midfield.
"In Scotland on Saturday the latest pairing to be given a crack is almost certainly Owen Farrell, the willowy 20-year-old from Saracens via Wigan, and Bradley Barritt, a chunky South Africa-born bruiser without a willowy bone in his body, apparently, and whose biceps seem as big as most people’s thighs.
"At least in appearance and body attitudes, here we have two different beasts entirely, with differing styles. We have what is, at least potentially, a complementary partnership. Hold your breath."
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