SIR CLIVE WOODWARD: How I’d shake up England
Walking the dogs very early yesterday, i thought long and hard about Saturday’s match. The Test was there to be won and we came up short.
november 8, 2014 must go down as the day this England set-up started smelling the coffee and really taking stock of where they are. England need to move on from all this team-building, pride in the shirt, old players’ names in the tunnel, tweets from fans, ‘You don’t play for England, you represent England’, all that stuff.
These are all a given in any highperforming team and we don’t need this corporate jargon.
Far too much was made of Martin Johnson’s ‘failure’. England won 10 out of 13 games in 2011 under Johnno. i’d love to know what he is making of all of this.
From now on it has to be all about nuts-and-bolts rugby. We have lost the last five against new Zealand and now we have to circle the wagons, get some sulphur flying around, add some real anger into this team and concentrate on playing ruthless and world-class rugby.
Winning the next match is all that matters.
CREATE A SIEGE MENTALITY
IT is time for the England coaching team to step up to the plate. and i mean that positively. What an opportunity for a coach.
England will go head to head with a stack of good sides in the next 12 months, with hard-nosed ‘winning’ coaches who all have England in their sights.
Warren gatland and Wales, Joe Schmidt and ireland, a new-look Scotland under Vern Cotter, Michael Cheika with australia, Heyneke Meyer for the Boks and, of course, Steve Hansen and his all Blacks. We may love beating them but they love beating us more, especially at Twickenham. This will only intensify as we begin celebrating a home World Cup.
We do not have exclusivity over ‘pride in the shirt’. We need to create a siege mentality now.
PUT A KICKER AT NO 12
WHEN the game develops like it did on Saturday, England badly lack a natural kicker at no 12.
kyle Eastmond was excellent in new Zealand territory for the first 20 minutes, but England’s lack of a tactical kicking game was so evident in the second half when they got pinned in their own half.
i’ve been advocating this for a long time now and i see one or two commentators are beginning to back the notion!
There is a strong argument for moving Owen Farrell to 12. in my ideal XV i’d do just that and start with Danny Cipriani at no 10. Those two in harness would give me the midfield options i am looking for. i’m not sure yet whether george Ford is ready to start at fly-half but i’d love to be proved wrong and to see Ford and Farrell being given a chance to play alongside one another for 80 minutes.
TICK SOME MORE BOXES
ENGLAND must think seriously about the structure of the team.
keep it simple. What do we need to beat the world’s best? Firstly, a nasty, aggressive, ball-winning front five who come out on top at the set-piece. Box ticked, graham Rowntree has done an outstanding job in this department.
Secondly, a well-balanced back row with pace. Box not ticked. Billy Vunipola, for all his virtues, hasn’t got the pace for this level at present and can’t play 80 minutes.
We have options although for unfathomable reasons Steffon armitage has been declared ineligible. i’d play James Haskell at no 8, Chris Robshaw at no 6 and armitage at openside.
and if we pick dangerous attacking wings, we need to use them. Box not ticked. Other than returning kicks, if Semesa Rokoduguni touched the ball in attack on Saturday, i must have missed it.
LACK OF CAPS NO EXCUSE
EVERYONE has to stop talking about England as this young, inexperienced side. This is not an England Development team, this is THE England XV.
i applaud the selection of the debutants, even if anthony Watson’s first cap was well overdue. But to suggest their inexperience is a definitive factor is not accurate.
The evidence for this is in the front five where England dominated. We had george kruis and Dave attwood, effectively fourth and fifth-choice second rowers, and and an unfamiliar front row – all were magnificent.
What we lacked was the game plan and key selection decisions to utilise the platform the pack provided.
BEWARE THE BOKLASH
This week is going to be one of the toughest of Stuart lancaster’s career. There will be a huge backlash from South africa after losing to ireland. The Boks will be up for it physically more than ever, so England must look to out-think and outsmart them and that needs great coaching and great selecting.
Mike Brown is experiencing a dip in form and confidence — it happens — so i would go for broke and introduce anthony Watson at full-back.
My team from those available: Watson; Rokoduguni, Burrell, Farrell, Wade; Cipriani, Care; Marler, Hartley, Wilson, attwood, lawes, Robshaw (c), armitage, Haskell.
MAKE HQ A FORTRESS
THE Twickenham crowd can still go horribly quiet and England need them to up their game if home advantage is to count for anything
at the World Cup. Building an atmosphere is much more than putting white flags on seats and playing patriotic music. Are you really going to start cheering for England just because the big screen says ‘Come on England’?
I was put out to see a huge All Blacks billboard just outside the ground, even the electronic boards in the stadium said: ‘We welcome New Zealand’.
The fans have a big role to play but first they must be excited by the team. It was very flat on Saturday and as a coach you need to ask why that is. Twickenham must become a fortress, NOT the home of rugby.
LIFE AFTER O’DRISCOLL
IN Ireland, the King is dead, long live the King. Brian O’Driscoll is gone but Ireland have a wonderfully gifted talisman in Jonny Sexton. That was a fantastic, totally convincing win over South Africa. Ireland are profiting from having a nailed- on half- back pairing in Sexton and Conor Murray.
OPTIMISTIC OVER WALES
WALES can still score tries against the best and if I was England that would concern me.
I don’t share some people’s pessimism over Wales falling short against southern hemisphere sides. Once they secure that breakthrough win, there will be others.
HAIL THE GREAT SCOTS
SCOTLAND are alive and kicking and I expect them to give the All Blacks a good run for their money on Saturday. Don’t underestimate their win over Argentina. I enjoyed Scotland’s speed of thought and deed. The Scots are always at their best playing at pace.