Friday 22 January 2016 17:49, UK
James Haskell would happily be Eddie Jones' choice at openside flanker but is adamant shirt numbers do not matter.
Debate has raged over England's No 7 shirt, with Chris Robshaw, captain during the team's woeful World Cup, set to be switched to the blindside for the Six Nations after failing to convince new coach Jones of his capabilities on the openside flank.
Joines has mentioned Wasps captain Haskell as a possible starter at seven in the Calcutta Cup clash with Scotland on February 6, but Haskell, who insists his main focus remains Saturday's Champions Cup contest with Leinster, has not spoken to the Australian about his anticipated role.
"People have got so obsessed about seven, six-and-a-half. It's bull. It doesn't matter," said the 30-year-old. The most important part of a back-row is the balance and people have got to stop worrying about what numbers you've got on a shirt.
"You've got to each be exponents of all areas and this obsession with it has got to stop. It's not realistic. People haven't seen that the modern game has completely changed from what's in the past. A seven now has a different role."
Haskell conceded England could have been better at the breakdown during the World Cup, where group-phase defeats to Wales and Australia saw the hosts bow out before the knockout stages.
Sam Warburton of Wales and David Pocock of Australia are masters at the breakdown, while there was much conjecture about the exclusion of Steffon Armitage from England duty.
Armitage plays his club rugby for Toulon but England only select overseas players in "exceptional circumstances".
Pocock and New Zealand's World Cup-winning captain Richie McCaw, who is now retired, had "free rein", Haskell says, to work on the breakdown.
"I have never - and neither has any England player - been given the free remit to run around at the back of the defensive line and come in and do that," added Haskell, who has been capped 62 times by his country.
"And it doesn't necessarily suit the team unless you have an unbelievable exponent, someone like Pocock. Wherever I've played, whether that be seven or anywhere else, you only affect the breakdowns that are in front of you, you don't go looking for them. It's detrimental to the side.
"George Smith puts his tackles in, but he will hover around, let someone else do the work and then get on the ball. That's not my game. My game is being a destructive tackler, that's what brings the best out of me. You've got to find a balance."
Haskell has played the majority of his rugby at openside in recent years, until "ultimate seven" Smith arrived at Wasps last summer. And the back-row has now asked former Australia flanker Smith for additional tuition.
"He's naturally quite a quiet guy but I try my best to get all the secrets out of him and he has been very willing to help," added the 30-year-old.
