England aren’t tired, just not good enough
The challenge for rugby’s tourists is just too big, writes Paul Ackford.
Twenty-five years ago a good England side travelled to Australia to do battle. The names still have resonance: Will Carling, Rob Andrew, Brian Moore, Jeremy Guscott, Mike Teague, Rory Underwood, Dean Richards, Peter Winterbottom, Jason Leonard. These hombres knew what they were about when it came to winning rugby matches and looking after themselves. Like Eddie Jones’s boys, they had just won a grand slam, and were to go on to win two more in 1992 and 1995.
Carling’s mob thought they understood how to prevail down under. They thought that if they applied the northern-hemisphere squeeze – big scrum, commanding lineout, vice-like control of territory and possession – they would pound the Aussie softies to bits, neuter their running game, atrophy their imagination and invention.
So much for that theory. That England side lost that particular contest 40-15, blitzed by the Wallabies who ran in five tries to England’s one. The following day, Geoff Cooke, the England manager, called a meeting to deconstruct the humiliation where it was decided that what works in the northern hemisphere is not nearly as effective when you travel south. That meeting, by the way, was the reason England decided to run the Wallabies off their feet in the World Cup final later that year. They lost that one too.
This is the magnitude of the challenge facing Jones and his team.
Over the years I have watched a succession of England sides journey to New Zealand, South Africa and Australia in June to have their backsides kicked. There have been occasional, isolated successes and, of course, that glorious trip in 2003 when Sir Clive Woodward’s England saw off New Zealand 15-13 in Wellington and then popped over to Melbourne a week later to dismiss Australia 25-14. But, basically, the rule is that when England – and Wales, Scotland and Ireland come to that – head off in June, they come second.
There are reasons for this. The first (more of an excuse than a reason) is that the poor lambs aren’t up to it after a long, attritional northern-hemisphere season with its legacy of niggling injuries. But I don’t buy that. If you’re not up for it, don’t travel.
The second reason (make that an excuse again) is that these summer tours are never undertaken at full strength because significant players are unavailable, either because they are injured (Manu Tuilagi, for instance) or because they are booked in for surgery. But I don’t buy that either. Modern rugby is in such a constant state of injury turbulence that the only time all international sides are approaching full strength is at World Cups.
The third reason is that the southern hemisphere genetically, culturally and environmentally produces better rugby players, and I have some sympathy with this explanation. For starters, of the eight World Cups, seven have been won by either South Africa, New Zealand or Australia.
Travel to a remote outpost in New Zealand on a Saturday morning and you quickly get a sense of the quality of coaching available to the kids throwing a ball around. Over here you get well-intentioned dads who’ve watched a bit and maybe played a bit many years ago. Over there, rugby is woven into their very existence.
As a generalisation, southernhemisphere players are more ruthless, more knowing about how and when to apply pressure. They are better at understanding when opponents are struggling in matches, better at knowing where they are weak, better at making the most of opportunities when they present themselves.
The fourth reason is simply that the southern hemisphere’s rugby priorities are different.
A report on the 14 autumn internationals of 2014 found that ‘‘southern-hemisphere teams scored 50 per cent more tries than penalty goals, while northernhemisphere teams scored 50 per cent more penalty goals than tries; that the southern-hemisphere teams kicked less; and that one in four of southern-hemisphere scrums ended in penalties while the ratio in northern-hemisphere teams was nearer one in two’’.
The report concluded pointed to ‘‘ the ability of the southernhemisphere teams to score and accumulate tries through a combination of strategy, vision and skills while maintaining a committed and effective defence.’’
None of the above will come as a surprise to Jones, who has had stints with the Springboks and the Wallabies. But it is one thing knowing what works down under, quite another channelling that knowledge through his fledgeling England team.
As for Wales in New Zealand? They’ve got no chance. TIMES