Neil Back has claimed that England captain Chris Robshaw is not among the best openside flankers in the world.
Robshaw will return to the England starting lineup this Saturday for the team's Rugby World Cup warm-up clash with France in Paris after missing last weekend's 19-14 win at Twickenham Stadium.
Back believes that Robshaw is a "very good player", but the World Cup winner has questioned some of the 29-year-old's decision-making in his former position.
"Chris has improved and is a very good player, but he's probably not in the top five opensides in the world," he is quoted as saying by Sky Sports News. "If you were putting together a world XV, he wouldn't be under consideration.
"As a seven I'd like him to develop his offloading game so that he's not taking the ball into contact so often. Robshaw's a good ball carrier, but he takes it into contact too much and that doesn't help the continuity of the team."
Back won 66 caps for England between 1994 and 2003.
Jack Prescott
