Autumn Review
In most of their matches New Zealand did nothing, no sweat, no effort, nothing flash; a true sign of genius. I don't even think the French are quite there, as with SA they will push them but not quite enough. France and South Africa had a good game, playing for the number two spot behind NZ. I think France are a bit loose if they want to beat NZ, but they can really play. As France are at home for the next world cup I still have them as favorites. My moment of the match was Nyanga running through Smith, Smit and nearly through Burger, great player.
I thought Australia where quite good against France, better than the Welsh against New Zealand. I actually thought Australia would beat England. I expected England to mess up the line out, again. I thought where England did dominate up front the ball would be too slow for Hodgson to do anything with, or Tindall will kick it away, drop it or bash it up and lose the ball in contact. When Australia have the ball they will rip through our tired old defensive patterns. After the game I thought Australia were less effective than against France, but then we were more dominant than France. Cohen was on good form, it's a shame that the back three are capable of mixing it with the best but we starve them. Hodgson got nice and flat and Tindall was half a pitch behind. I think I was flapping my arms in frustration more than Dawson. I was pleased to see the lineout working, but it adds to my dismay at the poor use of the ball. I liked what Michael Lynagh said, there is cause for concern when England can dominate so much and then still be close to losing.
The scrum was an obvious issue. The Australian coach, Eddie Jones, also talked about having more front row players on the bench. I would like to see stiffer penalties, maybe allow a full front row on the bench but make the team drop to fourteen if they run out.
I watched the Ireland game against New Zealand in quick time, they were hard working, disruptive, some great back row work but for what? I was also worried by the lack of ball they had, watching NZ the ball was whipped out constantly, with England it saw less light than a pit pony.
I think it was Ashton in 2000/2001 who convinced the forwards to let the ball go and we racked up the points. Now he is going to Bath at just the right time for them. They have English problems, a powerful pack and poor back play despite having the players.
Looking at NZ again, and even France, they stay up in the tackle and off load. With the power we have, our forwards would destroy defenses if they stayed on their feet and off loaded. The same with Tindall, if he runs straight and looks for the off load. If we just add that single skill no team on earth could withstand it; in my opinion
I am convinced we need to apply pressure in defence, but I can't be sure about up and out or out to in. I think they will be more familiar with the up and out, but I still think New Zealand will get it out wide fast or break some holes on the inside. In general we need to apply pressure and disrupt the support lines, stop or disrupt the off loads. The obvious thing on their scrum is for our 9 & 7 to disrupt their 9&10, but that is always easier said than done.
I'm OK playing territory on our ball, as long as we make touch and don't give them a quick throw in. But we still need to play heads up and take the chances, the back three must be prepared to counter, they are smart enough rugby players. So until our skill levels improve I guess possession and territory will win. We just can't give them ball and when they do have it we need to close them down and hit them backwards. Possession is our strength, but I so often see English teams take ten metres in a maul and then it stops... and then we get the ball out, the defense is nicely realigned. What we need is the ball out while we're still moving and the defense is on the back foot. And yes too many of our good ball carriers go to ground, few French, New Zealand or even Welsh players do.
We pressured them, we rattled them, they made mistakes, but they were a class apart. To take a hugely negative spin, which I know isn't justified, it is easier to train a team to disrupt the opposition than it is to beat the opposition. In the scrum we were stuffed in my view, by the end we were going back on their ball and ours. The line out was an even contest, surprisingly.
New Zealand are a class apart in skill level, they will win everything unless we up our game. But given the stodge the Premiership turns out we are in trouble, get the skills coach on to the 16 years olds. The key for me was that our guys looked like they had been in a battle, they looked like they had a tough game, there is a difference.
England against Samoa, we can win by 40-3 and I still feel we had a poor show. I think I am expecting a lot, but we have set our own standards by winning the world cup, nothing less will do now. I thought everybody look good in the back line except Tindall, sorry to pick on the bloke again but his passing is so bad. If I got passes like that from a centre I would be livid. If I were an outside centre with the inside man drifting across I would be tempted to do a Fabien Pelous on my own player as he came towards me. In my view Simpson-Daniel was played out of the game by a shockingly bad Tindall. I thought in the second half the forwards were really trying to move the ball around, showing some skill at last.
Wales were great to watch against Australia, really giving it a go and will be awkward to beat in the six nations.
England will do well, which I think will obscure the real issue, we are not good enough to regain the world cup.
I thought Australia where quite good against France, better than the Welsh against New Zealand. I actually thought Australia would beat England. I expected England to mess up the line out, again. I thought where England did dominate up front the ball would be too slow for Hodgson to do anything with, or Tindall will kick it away, drop it or bash it up and lose the ball in contact. When Australia have the ball they will rip through our tired old defensive patterns. After the game I thought Australia were less effective than against France, but then we were more dominant than France. Cohen was on good form, it's a shame that the back three are capable of mixing it with the best but we starve them. Hodgson got nice and flat and Tindall was half a pitch behind. I think I was flapping my arms in frustration more than Dawson. I was pleased to see the lineout working, but it adds to my dismay at the poor use of the ball. I liked what Michael Lynagh said, there is cause for concern when England can dominate so much and then still be close to losing.
The scrum was an obvious issue. The Australian coach, Eddie Jones, also talked about having more front row players on the bench. I would like to see stiffer penalties, maybe allow a full front row on the bench but make the team drop to fourteen if they run out.
I watched the Ireland game against New Zealand in quick time, they were hard working, disruptive, some great back row work but for what? I was also worried by the lack of ball they had, watching NZ the ball was whipped out constantly, with England it saw less light than a pit pony.
I think it was Ashton in 2000/2001 who convinced the forwards to let the ball go and we racked up the points. Now he is going to Bath at just the right time for them. They have English problems, a powerful pack and poor back play despite having the players.
Looking at NZ again, and even France, they stay up in the tackle and off load. With the power we have, our forwards would destroy defenses if they stayed on their feet and off loaded. The same with Tindall, if he runs straight and looks for the off load. If we just add that single skill no team on earth could withstand it; in my opinion
I am convinced we need to apply pressure in defence, but I can't be sure about up and out or out to in. I think they will be more familiar with the up and out, but I still think New Zealand will get it out wide fast or break some holes on the inside. In general we need to apply pressure and disrupt the support lines, stop or disrupt the off loads. The obvious thing on their scrum is for our 9 & 7 to disrupt their 9&10, but that is always easier said than done.
I'm OK playing territory on our ball, as long as we make touch and don't give them a quick throw in. But we still need to play heads up and take the chances, the back three must be prepared to counter, they are smart enough rugby players. So until our skill levels improve I guess possession and territory will win. We just can't give them ball and when they do have it we need to close them down and hit them backwards. Possession is our strength, but I so often see English teams take ten metres in a maul and then it stops... and then we get the ball out, the defense is nicely realigned. What we need is the ball out while we're still moving and the defense is on the back foot. And yes too many of our good ball carriers go to ground, few French, New Zealand or even Welsh players do.
We pressured them, we rattled them, they made mistakes, but they were a class apart. To take a hugely negative spin, which I know isn't justified, it is easier to train a team to disrupt the opposition than it is to beat the opposition. In the scrum we were stuffed in my view, by the end we were going back on their ball and ours. The line out was an even contest, surprisingly.
New Zealand are a class apart in skill level, they will win everything unless we up our game. But given the stodge the Premiership turns out we are in trouble, get the skills coach on to the 16 years olds. The key for me was that our guys looked like they had been in a battle, they looked like they had a tough game, there is a difference.
England against Samoa, we can win by 40-3 and I still feel we had a poor show. I think I am expecting a lot, but we have set our own standards by winning the world cup, nothing less will do now. I thought everybody look good in the back line except Tindall, sorry to pick on the bloke again but his passing is so bad. If I got passes like that from a centre I would be livid. If I were an outside centre with the inside man drifting across I would be tempted to do a Fabien Pelous on my own player as he came towards me. In my view Simpson-Daniel was played out of the game by a shockingly bad Tindall. I thought in the second half the forwards were really trying to move the ball around, showing some skill at last.
Wales were great to watch against Australia, really giving it a go and will be awkward to beat in the six nations.
England will do well, which I think will obscure the real issue, we are not good enough to regain the world cup.
posted by AJ Thomas at
12:59 pm
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