Brian Moore England's pain was self-inflicted
The team did so many things well, but their failure to keep winning good ball was pivotal
Cruel wasn’t it – England denied a heroic and deserved victory over the All Blacks. Robbed by a dodgy call from an interfering South African television match official, intent on exacting revenge for his country’s defeat the previous week. Well, no actually; the only tragedy in England’s downfall was that it was self-inflicted.
Let’s get the Courtney Lawes decision sorted. The TMO had the right to inform Jerome Garces, the referee, about an incident that might affect his awarding of a try to Sam Underhill. However, reviewed evidence should be clear and obvious. It is now otiose whether this was so or whether the ball was out, or Lawes was in front of the offside line. It was a marginal call that went against England. To be fair to Eddie Jones, he did not blame the defeat on that call and nor should he or anyone else. There were other, more prosaic, reasons for this.
But first let’s get a bit of perspective and take the positives out of the game. England showed that they are not in crisis. They are a good side who need to make small, but crucial improvements to seriously challenge for rugby’s top prize.
They did so many things well, with several outstanding individual performances. Their game management was good enough in the first 30 minutes to reduce the world’s best to bystanders.
So why did they lose? Rugby’s most important tenet is that you need the ball; obvious, but it is not just about possession. It is more about its quality and where and when it is won. In the first half England won good quality ball from both scrum and line-out and, crucially, they won the “must win” set-pieces. What happened in the remaining 50 minutes, especially 10 minutes either side of half-time, was pivotal. The Kiwis, as they do, took their only real chance of the first half to score a try but another unwritten rule is not to make things worse after you concede a score. Owen Farrell’s decision to restart with a shortish kick was questionable. Had the kick gone long, he would have had a greater margin for error and the Kiwis would either have had to drop out or go almost the length of the field to score. When he also kicked the ball out on the full, he gave New Zealand a final chance to score before half-time, which they duly did with a penalty. Psychologically, going in 15-10 up seemed, and was, a lot worse than 15-7.
In the second half, England failed to replicate the essential elements of their first-half performance. This, and a reenergised All Black effort, forced them to play on the back foot for all save the last few minutes. England’s scrum ball was not solid, and their line-out malfunctioned. When they needed possession, they lost it. In the past, England’s bench has invariably made a positive contribution but not this time. Jamie George was blamed for all England’s line-out woes but his under-throwing was not the only reason. Maro Itoje started his jump and lift from a point behind New Zealand’s Brodie Retallick and this meant the Kiwi intercepted several throws. This basic fault was the largest contributory factor to England’s defeat. Had England kicked a relatively simple penalty in the second half they would have gone into a lead that required New Zealand to score a converted try to win. Even then, and to their great credit, England fashioned a chance to win the game in the last two minutes. You would always back Farrell to make a 35-metre dropkick from in front of the posts. England made the ground but chose to run the ball wide right, making any such attempt more difficult.
This is what the pressure of playing the All Blacks can do to teams. The England World Cup-winning team of 2003 had the experience and confidence to give Jonny Wilkinson his last-minute glory and this is something Jones’s men need to learn.