ENGLAND READY FOR BLAST OFF
Lancaster wants power surge
POWER and brute force are underrated rugby values in this part of the world but England are ready to harness those traditional assets in their quest to avoid a dreaded ‘Blackwash’ here tomorrow.
After substantially changing their starting line-up, Stuart Lancaster and his assistants are destined to make tactical alterations too.
Seven days after being run off their feet in Dunedin, the tourists are determined to ensure that they exert greater control over the tempo of the series finale at Waikato Stadium.
This has been a trip of cruel lessons for the national team, in the course of two narrow defeats against the world champions, and what the 28-27 loss last Saturday revealed was the urgent need for a more selective attacking approach.
Amid the madcap effort to play New Zealand at their own game, England lost sight of the need to play their trump cards. A side featuring Freddie Burns at fly-half and Kyle Eastmond at inside centre is clearly not set up merely to kick for the corners and try to bulldoze the opposition up front. But England will seek to pick the right times and places on the pitch to go for broke.
They will unleash Manu Tuilagi in the areas where he can wreak most havoc and use the Leicester centre and the recalled Billy Vunipola to create positive momentum before sending the ball out towards the flanks.
New Zealand coach Steve Hansen has tried to goad the tourists into a repeat of last week’s fastand-loose duel by mischievously suggesting that they aren’t up to that sort of contest.
It would be tantamount to English suicide if the jibes hit home and the visitors adopted the same approach again. Being true to their powerful heritage is not an affront to the sport, as many Kiwis would argue. Vunipola revealed he will be at the vanguard of a renewed effort to blast gaping holes in the home defence, before trying to run around it.
‘As a team, we’ll try to be more direct and drive into them before we go wide,’ said id th the Saracens No 8. ‘We’ll try to earn the right to go wide, rather than putting pressure on ourselves.’
Asked if relying on formidable tight play was a valid means of claiming the consolation prize they crave, he added: ‘If it wins us the game then we’ll do it. England won the World Cup doing it. It’s one of those cliches, win playing ugly, but you are still till winning. i i Our O bi biggest t goal is to try and come away from this tour having won one of the Tests.
‘ I am confident we can, whether that’s playing counter-attack or playing to our strengths of mauling and setpiece and grinding it out.
‘We have to put pressure on them, get in their faces and try to stop them playing the wide game that they like.’ With the All Blacks holding an unassailable 2-0 series lead, the talk in the build-up to this match has been dominated by the issue of motivation.
Both sides have insisted that this is no meaningless deadrubber encounter and their words have carried ample conviction.
England are driven by a desperation to avoid a 3-0 rout. The management’s decision — understandable as it may be in most cases — to change half a team for the second successive week is a risk in terms of cohesion and continuity, so it would be dangerous to abandon utterly the commitment to play with wide- running freedom.
They have repeatedly highlighted the experience of June 2012, when they went to Port Elizabeth 2-0 down against the rampaging Springboks but fought back for a draw which meant they left South Africa with something to show for their sterling efforts. That is their template this time. Some may question New Zealand’s resolve to inflict more suffering on the tourists but they have plenty at stake. They want their 17th consecutive Test win to equal the world record.
They also want to continue a spell of home rule dating back to September 2009, the last time the All Blacks lost in New Zealand, 32-29 to South Africa in Hamilton. Since then, 32 Tests on their own shores have yielded 32 wins, an indication of the scale of England’s task.
If nothing else, England have exposed cracks in the All Black facade and raised some uncomfortable questions for their rivals, while winning respect for their refreshingly bold approach. But, ironically, if they are to take something more substantial out of this trip they may need to smash and bash their way to it.