England send out penalties Mayday
NOT THE END: Brits lifts Premiership trophy in May ENGLAND’S players have used their day off by the Indian Ocean to convene an emergency session to confront their serial penalty offending.
England’s red line is 10 per game but they have only kept under that figure once in 2018, against Italy. So the squad took it upon themselves to address the debilitating issue after Eddie Jones at last eased back on training by giving the squad an unexpected free day.
The England coach’s relentless methods were blamed for the flat performances in the Six Nations but after the ferocious pace in the first Test defeat by South Africa, Jones has reined back, allowing the team space to address one of their most pressing problems.
England conceded penalties to the Springboks’ five at Ellis Park, taking their total to an unacceptable 70 in six games this year.
Wing Jonny May said: “We have spoken about discipline before – it isn’t like it has been brushed over. In the Six Nations it killed us and it was as bad as ever at the weekend. In IN DURBAN the meeting last night the theme literally was discipline.
“Owen [Farrell] leads it and he has got a leadership group around him, but everyone in the team has a role to be a responder, a listener, to give information, to help pull in the same direction. Hopefully we have realised – we should have realised by now – the impact one penalty has on the momentum of a game, let alone back-to-back penalties. It really does have a huge impact. “You think, ‘Oh, one little penalty here’ – but we looked STRAIGHT TALKER: May says players know they must improve back at the Ireland game. I think it was Owen, on a kick chase, took Sexton out. Penalty. Boom, lineout penalty. Boom, high ball, try. It’s like the Butterfly Effect.”
May’s oblique reference, borrowed from deep mathematics, refers to the unintended consequences of the smallest of triggers. In it, the flapping of a butterfly’s wings eventually ends up causing a typhoon. There was no sign of a typhoon in Durban yesterday – or a cloud come to that – but the theory holds when it comes to picking apart England’s recent failures.
It is not just the penaltykick points that England’s indiscipline hands their opponents but whole swathes of momentum in games.
“It’s such a frustrating one because the guys don’t want to be giving away penalties. We know better than that. But at the moment, hands up, it’s on us, because it’s not good enough,” said May.
“It’s frustrating to be sat here saying the same thing. We didn’t adapt or learn quickly enough on the pitch.
“Maybe what we’re doing is trying a bit too hard, forcing it a bit too much and giving away penalties.” In ordinary circumstances the primary culprit – Maro Itoje – would be looking over his shoulder anxiously but there is no chance of the Saracen being dropped for Saturday’s second Test given the state of England’s second-row resources on this tour.
Nick Isiekwe is presumably unpickable after being hauled off by Jones before half-time in Johannesburg, which leaves a potential headache if Wasps’ Joe Launchbury, who missed the first Test with a calf injury, does not recover in time.
The uncapped Jonny Hill is the other specialist second row in the party and would be the next cab off the rank. The Uber option is Brad Shields, who deputised in extremis for Isiekwe at the weekend but is ostensibly a back row.
“With Brad we have lock cover,” said scrum coach Neal Hatley. “If it comes down to it, we are comfortable to start with him.
“He got 45 minutes in the second row at the weekend. He has played a bit there for the Hurricanes and trained in the second row as well.”
While Launchbury remains a doubt, bench hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie is on track to be fit for Bloemfontein after a hamstring strain.
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