Red Rose ‘revival’ faces proper test
Itoje insists he’ll take victory ‘any way it comes’ against Japan
MARO ITOJE insists England will do whatever it takes to win if a substance over style approach emerges as their blueprint for success at the World Cup. George Ford kicked all 27 points in their rout of Argentina last Saturday as England responded to the third-minute dismissal of Tom Curry for a dangerous tackle by grinding the Pumas into submission.
It was a rousing riposte to a dismal warm-up campaign but, having excelled in defence and shown the smarts to shape their gameplan according to events, a potent attack remains elusive.
Free-running Japan are the next assignment at the Stade de Nice today and, while Itoje would prefer to see England run riot, he will take a victory any way it comes.
When asked if it matters how the team win, Itoje said: ‘For me, it’s by any means necessary.
‘Obviously, we like to score tries and we’d like to score loads of tries. But for me it’s by any means necessary as long as we get the win.
‘Every game’s different and is going to present different challenges. The task is to find ways to get on the positive side of the result.
‘We know Japan move the ball. We know they are a very clever team that comes up with clever plays. However, the goal and task is to enforce an English style of rugby on this game.
‘We want to show our best hand and we want to defend it well. We want to impose our physicality.
‘We want to get into our set-piece game and, when the opportunity is right, our generals will fire us in attack. Yes, Japan move the ball, but it is about us imposing our will on them.
‘Japan run the ball more than Argentina and are very aggressive with how they play and the spirit and the energy of how they play.’
Japan are not the force that lit up the 2019 World Cup, with the pandemic hitting them harder than any other international side as they were prevented from playing a Test for two years.
If, as expected, England dispatch a team who have fallen to 14th in the global rankings, they will have clear sight of a place in the quarterfinals with group games against Chile and Samoa left to play. But Jamie George accepts that, if they are to progress further in the competition, they must develop more strings to their bow.
‘If we’re going to win a World Cup, which is what we’re here to do, we know that we’re going to have to kick on from where we were,’ George said.
‘The great English teams that I watched growing up – and that I have been a part of – based their teams around great defence and great set-piece.
‘As long as we are doing that I think our attacking game flows off the back of that. We have players who can do special things.
‘You have just seen the start of us in this tournament. We hope you will see us score points in different ways.’
ENGLAND’S TO-DO LIST
NO MORE CARDS: England have amassed more cards this year than any team ranked in the top 10, accumulating five yellows and four reds. It is a debilitating statistic and, while Steve Borthwick and Kevin Sinfield are adamant that the team do not have a discipline problem, they know they cannot keep playing with 14 men – or even less. The officiating of incidents involving head contact and their subsequent disciplinary hearings during this World Cup have been plagued by inconsistency, making avoiding dangerous play more important than ever.
SHARPEN THE ATTACK: England delivered a defensive masterclass to nullify clueless Argentina but there was no masking their attacking deficiencies. The most glaring moment was the butchering of a clear overlap that the same players would finish with ease for their clubs. If England are to advance deeper into the World Cup they must show they have the capacity to score tries, as drop goals and penalties alone will not be sufficient to see off the big guns.
BACK SINCKLER: A big moment looms for Kyle Sinckler, who will be making his first World Cup appearance since he was knocked out in the final against South Africa four years ago. Sinckler was in the form of his career in Japan, his scrummaging, ball handling skills and rampaging runs elevating him into the sport’s elite band of tighthead props.
The 30-year-old has failed to rescale those heights since and, now that he has recovered from a chest injury to take his place in the front row, he will be determined to invoke his 2019 form.
TARGET TIKA TAKA: Defence coach Sinfield has compared Japan’s tactics to the ‘Tika Taka’ football played by Barcelona, and England are on guard for dynamic opponents who like to move the ball and look for space over contact. They are not the force of four years ago when they lit up their home World Cup through enterprise and courage, but they have the capacity to upset the favourites if they hit their stride.