Chris Robshaw has relaxed into lead role and believes England can go places under Stuart Lancaster
Farewell "Mad Dog", hello "Mr Nice Guy": nobody can accuse the wise men of Twickenham of being prescriptive about the tone of the captaincy of the national team. And, if they choose to confirm Chris Robshaw as Lewis Moody's long-term successor after this Six Nations tournament alongside his equally new coach, Stuart Lancaster, who is vying to be the full-time heir to Martin Johnson, they really will have put the fading turbulent past behind them.
In the week England's last appointed – and, ultimately, lost – leader announced his departure from rugby after 16 mostly glorious years, Robshaw, a blond of an altogether different demeanour, declared himself content in the job but way short of being complacent after only three full internationals.
At 25, the Harlequins captain is eight years younger than Moody, and looks it. There is no gnarl about him yet, but it will come, most likely in further increments against France in Paris on Sunday.
Robshaw does not mind the stereotyping of him as "fluffy", a Surrey public schoolboy with rosy cheeks and excellent manners, but he almost blushes when reminded that one profiler said he could find nobody to say a bad word about him. Team-mates at Quins respect him as they would an older brother, while reserving the right to take the mickey out of him, as they did when he was required to tell a joke at a public function.
"It was a pretty bad joke, too," he says, as we look out of a rain-lashed window at his first club, Warlingham RFC, where he has come to spread the gospel on behalf of RBS Rugby Force, a grassroots programme that improves club facilities.
"It's great to come down here and coach," he says. "I haven't been back here in maybe 10 or 15 years. Got a trophy still in my room from the Under-8s."
So, how does it feel to be elevated to the highest job in his sport in such a hurricane fashion? "Pretty surreal, to be honest," he says. "I was in the leadership group and they weren't sure who was going to be captain. The following week Stuart called me into his office and said, 'I'd like you to be captain'. He said I couldn't tell anyone for half an hour but I left the room with this massive smile on my face. To run out at Twickenham and sing the national anthem in front of 80,000 people singing alongside you … That's the sort of thing you imagine as a kid. You dream about it. Incredible."
What is also incredible is that, before he led the team on to the pitch against Wales two weeks ago, Robshaw had seen the Six Nations at Twickenham only on TV. "It's true. I went to an autumn international once, against South Africa I think, for an 18th birthday present. Charlie Hodgson did a cross kick to Mark Cueto, who scored in the corner. Charlie scored as well. I reminded Charlie of that the other day."
It has not been all smiles. Robshaw says his game suffered when he was first appointed as he was "too worried about external things". Nick Easter calmed his nerves when he told him: "Relax, we're here to help."
Robshaw also had the baggage of missing out on the World Cup (and he would not agree that it may have been a blessing in disguise). "To play well all season and get that tap on the shoulder from Martin Johnson saying, 'You're not going', that was pretty devastating, really. Of course you have your dark moments and you mope about a bit but you have to get back on your horse."
He did it with the gusto of Tonto riding into town with the Lone Ranger after being beaten up by the baddies yet again.
"I've been in contact with Stuart for quite a while now, with Saxons and with England. He's a great guy, very positive. He's very similar to Conor O'Shea [the Quins director of rugby] in that respect. He's switched on, great to have at the helm. He's done a tremendous job. We want to go out there and play for him.
"He's done what he said he's going to do: give players an opportunity. I'd like think we've repaid him, although there are two massive games left, against France and Ireland."
So, is there a sense that this is a grand adventure between coach, captain and young team? "Definitely. I think we've only been together 30, 35 days. Within that squad you've got guys who have never played before, and also guys who have played 30, 40 times, but it's generally quite a young group. We want to go places. We want to play against the best players in the world. We want to be there 39, 40 games from now, at the next World Cup."
Away from work, Robshaw is a "very fair-weather golfer", likes to sit at home "playing silly board games" with his girlfriend, watches TV and even cooks. "I did have a guitar," he admits, "but very dusty" – the epitome of Modern Rugby Man.
While life looks sunny for the young England captain, realists will wait before anointing the new partnership. Success means more when ripe, however, and freshness is what Robshaw and Lancaster bring to the England project.
Plus ça change, as the French say? Not always.
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