The Saracens star sees himself as a natural full-back but is happy to use his instincts where needed for England
As the unflappable Max Malins has been demonstrating all year, rugby can still be a game for languid piano players as well as piano shifters. Of course it matters who hits hardest and contests the most breakdowns but the most prized currency at elite level is time. Players capable of making a frenziedly physical sport look deceptively easy are growing rarer by the year.
There was an era – think David Gower in cricket, Matt Le Tissier in football or Stefan Edberg on a tennis court – when such a lightness of touch could be found across the majority of sports. English rugby, though, has often been suspicious of the genre: the richly gifted Alex Goode, Danny Cipriani and James Simpson-Daniel were entrusted with a mere 25 England starts between them.
