New Management or New Players
The players are failing to take responsibility on the pitch, something they and the coaches need to sort out. It's no surprise that our best performances in recent years were at the World Cup where players took control under a manager who advocated player responsibility.
I really don't want anyone new as it is too close to the World Cup for radical changes to take effect. I truly believe that the right now best person to take us out of this mess is Johnson. I'm not saying he is the best coach, certainly not, but I do think he is in the best position to turn it around and has the ability to understand the faults.
Understanding the faults and fixing them are different things. I'm not arguing he currently has the ability to fix the faults, but he has a long track record as an astute rugby player. I can't accept that someone as aware as he is will not find a remedy, or more importantly I don't believe that parachuting someone else in over the summer will automatically put us in a better position.
In picking Johnson a gamble was taken because he needed time to learn, it would be poor for the RFU to back out of it now when it was obvious at the time of his appointment that the next World Cup had to be the time period in which he is judged.
At the start of the Six Nations the consensus was Johnson had picked more or less the best 15, we al had a few picks we prefer but the team was greeted optimistically.
Now the reaction is for wholesale changes, how can people change their views so radically when we know the current players are capable of better performances and can't guarantee new players won't fall in to the same stupor.
I don't think the players and coaches are winning over fans with their bland assertions about improvements, but I do agree with the theory that we are only a few tweaks away from much better results.
I'm not entirely optimistic that these coaches can turn it round, but I do think we have the players, just not the right mix and balance, or the right approach.
A good example is Worsley, I think all but his biggest critics would accept he is as good as anyone at 'tree-felling' but that wasn't much help against the offloading of Scotland. Tait is a good defender, but was all over the place due to poor organisation from poor communication, not because he is crap.
The same criticisms of England were in place during the last World Cup, yet we turned it around quickly to reach the final.
I really don't want anyone new as it is too close to the World Cup for radical changes to take effect. I truly believe that the right now best person to take us out of this mess is Johnson. I'm not saying he is the best coach, certainly not, but I do think he is in the best position to turn it around and has the ability to understand the faults.
Understanding the faults and fixing them are different things. I'm not arguing he currently has the ability to fix the faults, but he has a long track record as an astute rugby player. I can't accept that someone as aware as he is will not find a remedy, or more importantly I don't believe that parachuting someone else in over the summer will automatically put us in a better position.
In picking Johnson a gamble was taken because he needed time to learn, it would be poor for the RFU to back out of it now when it was obvious at the time of his appointment that the next World Cup had to be the time period in which he is judged.
At the start of the Six Nations the consensus was Johnson had picked more or less the best 15, we al had a few picks we prefer but the team was greeted optimistically.
Now the reaction is for wholesale changes, how can people change their views so radically when we know the current players are capable of better performances and can't guarantee new players won't fall in to the same stupor.
I don't think the players and coaches are winning over fans with their bland assertions about improvements, but I do agree with the theory that we are only a few tweaks away from much better results.
I'm not entirely optimistic that these coaches can turn it round, but I do think we have the players, just not the right mix and balance, or the right approach.
A good example is Worsley, I think all but his biggest critics would accept he is as good as anyone at 'tree-felling' but that wasn't much help against the offloading of Scotland. Tait is a good defender, but was all over the place due to poor organisation from poor communication, not because he is crap.
The same criticisms of England were in place during the last World Cup, yet we turned it around quickly to reach the final.
posted by AJ Thomas at
7:04 pm
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