Extra dimension
The biggest shift in tactics in the world game in the past nine or 10 months – since the last World Cup, I suppose – has been in the second row. Having big, 18-stone, ball-carrying athletes who can not only jump but handle the ball brilliantly and get around the field like back-row forwards has given the best teams an added dimension. You only have to look at the effect that the absence of Brodie Retallick and Sam Whitelock had on New Zealand in Chicago last week to realise the truth of that statement.
Ireland played brilliantly, of course, and fully deserved their victory. But the All Blacks really felt the absence of their first-choice locks. With Retallick back in Dublin next weekend I fancy the result may be different.
England have made great strides in this area. The last 12 months have seen the emergence of Saracens team-mates Maro Itoje and George Kruis on the international stage. But in their absence yesterday I’m sure Eddie Jones would have been delighted by the performances of Joe Launchbury and Courtney Lawes. Launchbury, with 11 carries, nine tackles and nine line-outs won, was fully deserving of his man of the match award, while Lawes was always involved in the game. It was great to see him pick up his first try on his 50th cap.
A lot will be made of Ben Youngs’s dummies which led to tries for George Ford and Owen Farrell. But the opportunities to isolate second-rowturned-flanker Pieter-Steph du Toit were created by England’s big ballcarriers, Billy Vunipola, Launchbury and Lawes (left), who stayed patient in the buildup, carrying the ball, building the phases. Having guys like Launchbury and Lawes, or Kruis and Itoje, is like having five back rows. It means having 12 of your 15 who are genuinely comfortable carrying, passing and running with the ball. A far cry from my day! which will greatly please Jones was the fact that, with the game won with 15 or 20 minutes still remaining, he was able to blood the likes of Ben Te’o, Nathan Hughes and Kyle Sinckler. That strength in depth, and the ability to vary how England play, will be two of Jones’s goals for this autumn series.
Being able to switch it around at 10-12, in particular, playing with either Ford or Farrell at 10 rather than both on the field, is vitally important. because they have now proved beyond all doubt that they can play together. I have been hugely impressed by Farrell’s transition to 12 on the international stage. He is the ultimate Test-match animal in my eyes; balanced in his decision-making, solid defensively, good hands, good communicator, rock-solid off the tee. Boks kicked well, their line-out was stable and they scored nine points. But they were soft points for England to concede. In fact, along with the two second-half tries, particularly the last one through Willie le Roux, those first 20 minutes were the one real negative for England. But at least you could see what they were trying to do. They wanted to dominate the line-out, keep the intensity high, clear out the rucks quickly and build phases. I think they were just a bit over-eager at the start.
But they kept at it and their tactics eventually paid off, particularly for those two tries when du Toit was isolated. They were helped by South Africa’s static defence in the first two channels. Nobody stepped in to take on Youngs, allowing the scrum-half to take two or three steps away from the ruck. This can sometimes cost Youngs, although not yesterday.
South Africa, by contrast, were tactically confused. They looked like they wanted to play a conservative game, and they did it well in the first 20 minutes; strong set-piece, play for territory, force mistakes. But they seemed confused. They would pin England back and then not compete for line-out ball. That made no sense. Rudy Paige at scrum-half also suggested the Boks might be aiming for a quicker, wider game, but it never materialised. They looked like a team who did not quite know how they wanted to play.