by IIn the six years since his England debut, Ben Spencer has played just six Tests and 81 minutes of international rugby. It was a bizarre, sporadic career, and the wildest was when he sat on the bench for his fourth international match in the 2019 World Cup final – jetlagged and undertrained.
A week earlier, on the morning of October 26, 2019, Spencer sat at home and watched England beat the All Blacks 19-7 in the semi-final in Yokohama, Japan. That afternoon he was told that Willi Heinz – one of only two scrum-halves brought to Japan by Eddie Jones alongside Ben Youngs – was injured. Spencer had to pack his bags and catch the next flight.
“I left “I went out to dinner with my wife Jordan that Saturday night,” says Spencer, now 32. “She was pregnant with our third child at the time, so she decided to stay at home. On Sunday I was about to board the flight to Japan when my wife’s mother called: “I saw Jordan here in tears.” They have to pick her up on the next flight. She really wants to be there.’
Spencer, second from left, walks past the World Cup after rushing to Japan to fill in at the last minute for the final, which England lost
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“Many flights had either doubled in price or were sold out, so she was flying from London to Paris, Paris to Hong Kong, Hong Kong to Japan with two children while four or five months pregnant.”
Things weren’t much easier for Spencer when he arrived on Monday morning of the World Cup last week. “It was absolutely crazy,” he says. “I think I only really got over the jet lag after the game.
“I haven’t slept much because you’re nervous about learning all your roles and plays and of course the last week is a World Cup. Actually, we didn’t train that much. I’m like, ‘Can we train here please, guys?’ Of course, it could have been a hell of a story if we had crossed the line. But it wasn’t meant to be.”
Spencer perhaps values his silver medal more than most in this squad – which was beaten 32-12 by South Africa. His parents have it framed at home next to his jersey and the game program.
The Spencer family at Twickenham this year – Ben’s wife Jordan flew three times during her pregnancy to watch him at the 2019 World Cup final
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Spencer never really felt like he belonged to an English camp until now. With New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Japan on the schedule this November, he has the chance to almost double his cap list and he is keen to take advantage of the opportunity when it comes his way.
“It was difficult,” says one half of the Bath scrum. “It was always a cap here, a cap there. There was never a series of games. When it does, it’s difficult to find a decent routine.
“When you’re in a squad and you’re out, it definitely feels hard to be a part of it. Over the last nine months I’ve really felt like I’m part of the squad, even though I didn’t get as many caps as I’d like in the Six Nations. I was always around the team, at the games and traveling with the team, so you get a really good impression of the wins at Twickenham.
“They really want to be a part of it. This year has gone well, I took part in the Six Nations and the summer tour and hopefully I can play a few more international matches.”
This is the most consistent year Spencer has had with England and he has been in inspiringly strong form for Bath, where he is captain.
His Test career began back in 2018 when he appeared as a substitute for five and eight minutes in two away games against South Africa. He loved becoming England’s 1,400th international, but it was just one of many fleeting opportunities yet to come.
Spencer earned his first two caps for England on the 2018 summer tour to South Africa
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“Six weeks before we flew to South Africa, my baby boy was born,” Spencer remembers. “So I had my daughter, my wife and my six-week-old son out there and my parents all managed to get out, which was pretty special.
“The difficult thing for me was that I wasn’t the first choice at Sarries at the time. I was behind Wiggy [Richard Wigglesworth, now England’s senior assistant coach]. Eddie Jones always said that you have to be first choice at your club. I would have liked a few more minutes, but I had to buy time.”
In the third international match, Spencer played the last six minutes of the 38:38 draw against Scotland in the Six Nations tournament and was only called into the squad late.
And then, after that night in Yokohama, Spencer wouldn’t play another international match for almost five years, until he faced Scotland in that year’s Six Nations. In the summer he won his sixth win against New Zealand in Dunedin.
You may have noticed that Spencer is yet to win a Test in his England career. For a man with four Gallagher Premiership titles and three Champions Cups under his belt, that’s another strange statistic.
It’s time to change all that this fall. With Northampton Saints’ Alex Mitchell out with a neck injury, Spencer is competing with Bristol Bears’ Harry Randall and Leicester Tigers’ Jack van Poortvliet for the scrum-half spot.
After leaving Saracens and moving to Bath in 2020, Spencer is a reborn player. Upon joining, Bath initially fell like a stone and ended the 2021/22 season bottom of the table, so Spencer understood that he was once again out of England’s good graces.
“To get selected for your country you should probably be at least in the top half of the table and pushing for titles,” he says.
But since Johann van Graan was appointed as coach in 2022, they have climbed up the table. Spencer was instrumental in the whole thing, but credits attack coach Lee Blackett and fly-half Finn Russell for his upturn in form. He enjoyed Bath’s more unstructured game plan compared to the one he had at Saracens, which freed and opened his mind.
Spencer is competing with Randall and Van Poortvliet for a starting spot this fall
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“For much of my career, especially early on, I was very afraid of making mistakes,” says Spencer. “Finn exudes confidence that spreads throughout the group. When he makes a mistake he has a big smile on his face and laughs about it, and the next time he usually does something magical. Everyone gets a little encouragement from his reaction.
“With Finn it’s about just playing what’s in front of you and going to where the space is, and if that means letting it run from 10 meters away from your line then we’ll do that.”
Spencer sees a lot of Russell in Marcus Smith, who is likely to be England’s number 10 this autumn. “Marcus’ attack intent is incredible,” says Spencer. “It’s very difficult to defend him because he runs and kicks so well, and his passing is also incredible. He’s a lot of fun to play with.”
With Blackett, Spencer has worked to become an attacking and running threat in his own right. That work has borne fruit as Spencer has made several devastating breaks for Bath in recent seasons, resulting in assists and tries.
Every potential scrum-half has been told by England that they must recycle the ball from rucks as much as possible within two seconds to suit the high-tempo game plan.
“If you want to play No. 9 for England, you have to get the ball away quickly,” explained attacking coach Wigglesworth. “We measure every attacking jerk. Not the speed of the ball, but the speed at which it is released. When the ball is available, it’s a matter of how quickly you can move it.”
Mitchell was the best at this, and if he’s out, it’s up to Spencer, Randall and Van Poortvliet to pick up. “If you can play against a defense that isn’t set up, you’re more likely to score,” Spencer says of the logic behind the tactic. “I will continue to improve my fitness to make sure we get that fast ball.”
While Randall is the “Zip-Zip” man – as he was nicknamed by former England head coach Jones – and plays for Bristol, the loosest Premiership team that barely kicks, Spencer’s years in the Saracens system have given him better game management skills.
“We have selection problems at number 9 and that’s a good thing,” says Wigglesworth.
Spencer may be 32 but feels that if the wind is good he can push towards 40 like his mentor Wigglesworth, who played until he was 39. Spencer feels he still has a lot of catching up to do after a staccato six years with England.
“Everyone wants more time on the pitch,” he says. “Even if it comes from the bench, I would like to come and really control a game, see how the game ends, to get us over the finish line at the end. Whatever my role is in the next four weeks, I will fulfill it to the best of my ability.”
England vs New Zealand
Autumn Nations series
Saturday, 3:10 p.m
Twickenham
TV TNT Sports 1
