EDGY ENGLAND ARE ALL AT SEA
Jones bemoans Italy ploy as he survives embarrassing scare
THIS was meant to be a routine home win; a bland nonevent, a one- sided procession. Instead, what happened at Twickenham yesterday ignited a raging debate about tactics — and laid bare how far away England are from their objective.
Eddie Jones was fuming during much of this bizarrely compelling RBS 6 Nations encounter and after it, he detonated — despite seeing his side eventually surge to a 17th successive Test victory.
The national coach repeatedly declared, ‘It’s not rugby’, in reference to Italy’s strategic ambush of the hosts, but his anger was surely generated in large part by his players’ inability to adapt.
Time and time again, the English mission statement is repeated in public; to overhaul New Zealand and become the No 1 team in the world. On this evidence, that exalted pinnacle is a long way out of reach. Presented with an unexpected conundrum, England were all at sea for most of this match. With 10 minutes remaining, they led by just two points. The script lay in shreds.
Up in the stand, Jones seethed as his team unravelled in the face of the Azzurri’s ploy of not committing defenders to rucks. The upshot was that there was no offside line and Italians were able to swarm around England’s side of the breakdown. To the Australian and other frustrated observers — many of them in the crowd — it was a negative means of engaging in damage- limitation. It was anti-rugby, an affront to the spirit of the game.
There was talk of the laws being stretched to the limit. Nonsense. The stark truth is that, in the face of the thundering English juggernaut, an out- classed rival team had come up with an entirely legal means of closing down the hosts’ attacking options; invading their space and, so it would seem, messing with their minds.
To think that some dared to criticise French referee Romain Poite. He was magnificent, reacting with consistency, composure and authority. There were farcical scenes at times as England appealed for him to intervene and he told them to get on with the game. Arms stretched wide, the call came again and again: ‘Tackle only. Tackle only.’
They can’t say they weren’t told. But still, England couldn’t work out what to do.
At one stage in the first half, veteran flanker James Haskell approached Poite and asked: ‘What do we need to do to make it a ruck?’ He replied: ‘I can’t say. I’m the referee, I’m not a coach.’
That wasn’t the last such exchange. Even after half-time, when the home coaches would have had ample opportunity to present a workable solution to their bewildered players, England carried on looking lost around the non-rucks.
From time to time, they drove through the middle, which was an ideal solution to the riddle, but then they reverted to dithering.
It would be churlish to castigate a side who moved closer to another Six Nations title, another Grand Slam and a world-record run of Test victories, but this was a day when the gap between them and the Kiwi world champions was revealed as a sizeable one. It is impossible to imagine Kieran Read and his fellow All Blacks taking so long with this problemsolving task.
If Italy had a goal-kicker of note, they would have been 16-5 up at half-time, in defiance of all the prematch predictions. As it was, they went into the break with a deserved five-point advantage. Not only did their tactics confuse their opponents, but Conor O’Shea’s derided team also dominated territory and possession. Their line- out was dysfunctional but their attacking play down the short side was often inspired.
England managed to go ahead through a try by Dan Cole, from a close-range rolling maul, but Italy turned the tables in the 40th minute when Tommaso Allan — who had missed two of his first three shots at goal — crashed his fourth effort into a post. As it bounced down, Giovanbattista Venditti was the first to react, seizing the ball and blasting through defenders to score. Stung by the deficit and what was surely a fierce half-time inquest, England stormed back at the start of the second half, with a try by Danny Care from a quick tap penalty. The home side went ahead again in the 47th minute, after Haskell burst through from a deft pass by the outstanding Maro Itoje. Courtney Lawes kept the move alive and Ben Te’o sent Elliot Daly away to touch down on the left.
Owen Farrell’s conversion made it 17-10. His 50th Test appearance was proving an eventful one.
Remarkably, Italy came again. Michele Campagnaro smashed through Ford, swerved around Brown and held off Daly to score a stunning solo try. The gap was back down to two points and it stayed that way until 10 minutes from time.
Then came the late English flourish. Ford and Jamie George combined to release Jack Nowell for a try wide on the right, Te’o struck in the same place a few minutes later and back came Nowell for more at the death, twisting past tiring defenders to score by the posts. In a flash, the scoreline had an emphatic look, but the result was no such thing.