BOTTLERS OR BATTLERS?
Gatland jibe throws focus on England’s mental frailties as World Cup looms
FACT OR FICTION? That was t he question being asked after Warren Gatland aimed his ‘bottlers’ jibe at England last week. The Wales coach took his seat at the top table in the Principality Stadium following his side’ s victory, where he rubbed salt into English wounds by questioning their big game mentality.
Some pundits, such as Andy Goode, took aim at prop Kyle Sinckler’s ill- discipline. Others focused on England’s failure to adapt their tactics. These are all things that coach Eddie Jones can address against Italy and Scotland in the final two rounds, both of which they are expected to win.
Gatland’s words, however, cut a little deeper. Big game mentality takes months, or years, to develop.
With the clock ticking down to the World Cup, The Mail on Sunday asked a host of figures whether England are on the right track as they prepare for the true test of bottle in Japan. SAM WARBURTON FORMER WALES & LIONS CAPTAIN I’VE been asked a few times about Warren dropping into the press that England are bottlers.
Gats is smarter than people think. I think he planted it in there because if Wales play England at the World Cup — which they could — then it would be brought back up and the pressure would go on England.
He was probably having a bit of a giggle and hoping some English fans would bite. England being England, people always expect so much. It was a clever statement by him and maybe there is some truth in it. If you look over the past six years, the three biggest games we’ve played against England — 2013, 2015 and this year — Wales have come out on top. JAMIE GEORGE ENGLAND HOOKER ONE loss doesn’t make us the worst team in the world, no matter what some people may say.
I couldn’t care less about what Andy Goode thinks, but I care about Kyle Sinckler. It is actually laughable. The bloke made however many tackles in 60 minutes, gave away a penalty and everyone thinks it is his fault. That shows Goode knows nothing about the game.
Kyle has been great. We have addressed what we needed to and this is a new week. JEREMY SNAPE EX-ENGLAND PSYCHOLOGIST AND SPORTING EDGE DIRECTOR PEOPLE look for the chokers story but sometimes you have to accept that you were beaten by a really good team.
The Cardiff crowd certainly worked to Wales’ advantage. All of these experiences — the good, the bad, the ugly — get dissected and go into a confidence bank account at the World Cup.
Big wins give you belief but lessons in adversity are equally valuable. The only time you can achieve the status of being the best in the world is in Japan, so everything else is a stepping stone towards that. The media and the public look at the outcome, while the elite look at the process and the skill execution. Eddie will be looking at tackle count, getting back on your feet. In cricket, it’s dot balls and building pressure through maidens, runs per over.
Every leader going into battle needs a few success stories and a few scars, so this will be an important experience for Owen Farrell as captain.
But what England have now is so much depth on their bench. If it’s all about one or two star players, then an injury to one of those guys can really knock a team. England are now in a position where they have players of a similar quality c o ming i nt o t he s i de. That’s extremely powerful. SIR CLIVE WOODWARD WORLD CUP WINNING COACH IT IS really bizarre. I gave them 10 out of 10 in Ireland for the way they played and the way they kept it going. They started fantastically well and absolutely battered a good Irish team.
Against France at Twickenham, England were up against a side who were poor that day and they will be really disappointed with the Wales game.
I love Owen Farrell, he is England’s talisman, our star man. But I think he remained loyal to what was the wrong game plan against Wales. He has to become freer and more versatile in his own decisions and think ‘right, this isn’t working, we are not going to be sitting in the changing rooms afterwards thinking we haven’t changed anything’.
It is not just him but the players around him... t hey j ust didn’t chance their arm enough. You have to solve problems in real time on the field. That England backline is seriously good but they hardly touched the ball. I can’t recall hearing any mention of Manu Tuilagi, Henry Slade, Jonny May or Elliot Daly.
Wales kept the ball well but we just kicked it away. You have got to say ‘guys, we just have to come off the pitch with more points than them, this isn’t working, how do we fix it?’ You can’t leave it until the last few minutes. To win a World Cup you have to go out with the mindset of ‘we are going to score more tries than you’. An attackfirst mentality, backed up by a ferocious defence.
Great teams in any sport play to win, they aren’t there trying ‘not to lose’. Maybe Eddie and defence coach John Mitchell have become too dominant on the defensive side. You were left wondering what England did in the second half in Cardiff, they didn’t fire a shot.
You don’t need many games to coach a team, just five or six com- petitive fixtures with a full debrief afterwards. Eddie has been with England a long time and how you get your message across in the heat of the battle is the art of coaching.
I am very relaxed about whether it should be the coach getting the messages on or the players working it out themselves. I don’t really care as long as you are making the right decisions based on what’s happening on the field of play and making those decisions quickly.
My big question to Tuilagi and
Slade would be ‘were you involved in the conversation?’ In 2003 the real brains of the team were Will Greenwood, he was a genius, and Matt Dawson. You add onto that Lawrence Dallaglio and the rest... they weren’t waiting for me.
England have a great team, we don’t need to mess about with the side now, but if they play like that tactically they are not going to win the World Cup.
The emphasis switches back to Jones now and I still think England can triumph in Japan, they are a really top team, but they have to play far more swashbuckling-type rugby rather than pulling the drawbridge up and trying to defend.
GRAHAM ROWNTREE ENGLAND COACH AT THE 2015 WORLD CUP
THIS team are better prepared than the 2015 team because they’ve experienced the highs and the lows together. There was unprecedented pressure at that home World Cup in 2015. Absolutely unprecedented. I remember playing Fiji on the opening day of the World Cup and thinking ‘They’ve got nothing to lose’.
World Cups are about pressure. They still have a lot of the same players and those shared experiences will be invaluable in Japan — regardless of what happened in Cardiff last week.