Having watch England’s two World Cup warm-up games against the Welsh I am now seriously concerned that Martin Johnson will have enough players to make up a squad of 30 let alone whittle down from 40. There are so many players who do not warrant a place on the plane to New Zealand on the showing of these two matches I wonder if we would be even able to a fill a bench with guys who are good enough to wear the white/red/blue or black!
I do not subscribe to the assertion that they are only warm-up games. No game against the Welsh is ever “friendly” or just an exercise in going through the motions. These games should be treated as a prelude to the toughest rugby contest in the international game. We should have our tactics finely tuned already, or in England’s case on Saturday...we should have had a tactic other than run straight into the waiting Welsh defence.
I wasn’t expecting perfection. I was expecting a game plan and strength of execution. What I saw was the typical England of old. If plan A doesn’t work, revert to Plan A! I have rarely seen a side have so much ball, with so few options. Far too often the first, second, third and fourth choice of option was to keep it in the forwards and hit the Welsh defensive line. The Welsh defended well, but they were rarely stretched. The England ball was so slow it gave the defence ample time to recover.
Once released to the backs Toby Flood failed to ignite his back line. It is hard to pin-point the reasons for this as he managed to do this adequately in this years Six Nations Championship, despite having the one-dimensional Mike Tindall and the utterly useless Shontayne Hape outside him. Neither centre justifies a place in the squad on form or talent. The creative runners; Foden and Cueto were largely anonymous. Is this down to them not giving Flood the option or Flood not directing them to where he needed them to be?
As for Banahan, any man of his size who cannot plough through Shane Williams when you are five metres from the line does not deserve to play international rugby. I am also a firm believer that if you are used on the crash ball you should hit the line at full tilt with the express intention of smashing it has hard as you can. Banahan would appear on the end of many a woefully telegraphed move to stop just before the tacklers. I bet Jamie Roberts and Sam Warburton couldn’t believe their luck. Easy pickings. Too easy!
There are worrying concerns (for me) over a number of players. Ricky Flutey did nothing when he played at Twickenham, Ugo Monye doesn’t have the quality despite being picked for the Lions Tour of South Africa and Hendre Fourie has not impressed (and don’t get me started on his nationality). The only previously uncapped players who may warrant selection are Tuilagi and Sharples. The others would have been given an opportunity to stake a claim if they had been good enough. Charlie Hodgson continues to look so nervous in an England shirt that he reminds me of a child made to do a PE lesson in his pants!
I don’t rate Nick Easter. He is too slow and not dynamic enough. For his so-called leadership qualities, I saw no evidence of them on Saturday. When things are going wrong you need “captains all over the field” to use the cliché. Speaking of Captains, Lewis Moody shouldn’t be certain of a place given his level of performance in the Twickenham game. He charged about in the first 5 minutes, missed two tackles and then went off injured in the first few minutes of the second half. I admire his lead-by-example style of captaincy to a certain degree but I don’t think it will be good enough in NZ, if he is ever fit enough to play.
At the end of the 6 Nations I was cautiously optimistic that Johnson’s team were moving in the right direction and that we would have a good tilt at the World Cup. I am now concerned we have regressed and there will be some knee-jerk experimentation in an attempt to solve problems that should have previously been addressed. Failure to beat Argentina in our opening game is likely to lead to a quarter-final against the All Blacks. I don’t expect them to choke this time.
At least Johnson is safe in the knowledge there is nobody left at RFU HQ to sack him!
If experience has shown us one thing it is that England rarely achieve consistency with a former forward as a coach. As far as I can tell, Johnson's only real contribution thus far has been to (almost) cure England's tendency to over-commit to the ruck. He clearly doesn't have to backs experience or tactical nous to get the best out of his back-line. Flood should never wear an international shirt in my opinion, it is evidence of my previous point that Johnson hasn't spotted his lack of skill, imagination or command at outside half. In Wales, whomever wears the Number 10 is a subject of national debate and consensus, such is the importance of the position. Flood can kick, but so too can David Beckham; it doesn't mean he'd be a good Fly.
ReplyDeleteAll that said, Wales may have peaked too early and I seem to remember England being poor before '03 and '07 too so I think it's a waiting game... which England will walk off the plane in NZ, the one that smashed the 6 nations, or the one that sunk without a trace in Cardiff last weekend...Great article, cheers!