WHERE ENGLAND WENT WRONG ...

THE alarm bells started ringing when, in the week of a Grand Slam game, England allowed themselves to be distracted by the Sportsmail exclusive that the RFU are trying to organise a game against the All Blacks in November. For the first time I felt England were getting ahead of themselves. IT IS A fine judgment — and I got it wrong the other way once by flying in too early — but I was surprised England came into their Dublin hotel so late on Friday. I happened to be staying with the ITV crew in the same hotel and it was a really quiet and serene spot. I’m not sure England quite plugged into the frenzied atmosphere and madness coming their way. ENGLAND’S scrum was good, it was the best scrummaging contest of the tournament, but I was mystified why they didn’t pressurise the Irish line-out more, especially given the conditions. There seemed no attempt to disrupt the Ireland line-out. England gave them too many free throws and didn’t pressurise Rory Best. THIS ‘finishers’ nonsense backfired and confused the team. How can Dylan Hartley really captain the team when he knows he’s coming off in the 46th minute? Match conditions were difficult in Dublin, so why the assumption that people coming in cold off the bench will ‘finish’ the match? The way to finish a match is have all your best players on the park all the time and let them adjust to conditions and the opposition tactics. When games are as tight as this you need your real leaders on the pitch at the death. England could have won this game despite playing so poorly but their chances were vastly reduced by finishing with a team that would not be selected to play under supreme pressure.