Autumn matches show England need to review scrum coaching
With the autumn internationals drawing to a close, what have we learned about the Six Nations teams and where they are in their preparation for 2019 RWC?
The French have shown they are still a long way off where they need to be if they want to be truly competitive, even at the Six Nations, let alone the World Cup. However, the recent announcement of them hosting the 2023 tournament should focus minds, at least at the top of the game, and may stop the in-fighting that continually hampers their progress on the field.
Scotland continue to punch far above their weight as the country with the smallest player pool of all the Tier 1 nations, and Gregor Townsend has bought a new spark to their game, raising the bar to a higher level. When it comes to the World Cup, despite world class players like Stuart Hogg, they are still a hostage to fortune and can’t afford injuries because of their lack of players, leaving them with a mountain to climb.
Italy are still very much a work in progress but Conor O’Shea will be looking for a more consistent performance from his charges in the Six Nations on the back of some mixed results this autumn.
As those above are the three teams that England play away from home this year, Eddie Jones will sleep easier knowing that by the time the Six Nations arrives all his players should be available and his main rivals for next year’s crown will have to win at Twickenham. Ireland are clearly progressing well and look to be England’s closest rival in the Northern Hemisphere for the 2019 World Cup and also next year’s Six Nations.
They have successfully introduced new players and yet have managed to expand their game with a confidence you would expect only from an established group. Joe Schmidt has brought some rarely seen strength in
The pack seemed to fall foul of the referee at the scrum engagement despite ‘The Battle of Bristol’ practice”
depth to Irish rugby and continues to improve their confidence in the game they play.
A robust set of forwards and the half-back pairing of Conor Murray and Jonathan Sexton are the key to their success and have a proven record of accomplishment.
Warren Gatland has experienced the highs and lows of his career this year with the New Zealand series drawn by the Lions, followed by an injury-hit Wales unable to raise their game this autumn, losing to Australia and New Zaland, and scraping only a dubious win over Georgia.
As for England, it’s so far so good, as Eddie’s new strategy of picking for each game rather than planning for the World Cup, has produced the right results and the team are settling in to the winning routine, even if being a little fortunate against Australia.
The TMO in last week’s game certainly had a busy time as far as Australia were concerned and seemed to review far more of the game around their questionable incidents than those of England.
Michael Hooper’s non-try in particular springs to mind, as Marika Koroibete started his run behind the kicker putting everybody, including Hooper, onside.
Add in Koroibete’s own nontry, disallowed after the touchdown was confirmed, when the video was rolled further back to an incident that the referee saw as an obstruction on Chris Robshaw who made the tackle that called the try into question. That should teach Australia not to beat the All Blacks when their next important game is going to be refereed by a New Zealander!
I would think England will have to review the coaching of the scrum, as the pack seemed to fall foul of the referee at the engagement despite the ‘battle of Bristol’ practice.
That said, England put in an assured performance against Australia that was a step-up from the previous game against Argentina and showed the difference between the established players and those seeking selection.
Much as I still feel Jones made his selections based on personal ambitions rather than what was good for the future of the squad, winning is everything and England won all three again this autumn.
I was disappointed to read the England players were not prepared to give even a small portion of the £69,000 each that they earned in match fees from the RFU (not including sponsorships) for this Autumn series to help the Samoan players, who may well end up not even getting the £1,800 each they are due.
Even though the RFU are making a ‘goodwill’ gesture of £75,000, it will probably go to the Samoan Rugby Union and be used to pay-off some of their debts, not the players’ match fees. Our players could have used the RPA or the Pacific Rugby Players Welfare trust set up by former Samoan player, Dan Leo, to pass the money directly to the Samoan players, ensuring they got something for their efforts.
It is too simplistic for players to say the problem lies between World Rugby and the SRU when fellow players are likely to suffer a loss of livelihood.
In the amateur days, players happily gave up the only commodity they had, their time, to help other players in need.
Surely, in these professional days where our players are earning just over 38 times in match fees alone what the Samoans were supposed to get, it wouldn’t have hurt to make a grand gesture.