Angry England ready to rumble
Lancaster has cut short bruising session
TWO WEEKS of pentup angst erupted during a full-throttle training game as England prepared to take out their frustration on Scotland.
Defeat in Dublin in their last RBS 6 Nations outing led to a prolonged post-mortem and fostered collective unrest, which came to a head three days before their next fixture, at Twickenham.
The desire to produce a backlash in the Calcutta Cup encounter led to a feisty 15-a- side match at England’s HQ yesterday, overseen by Test referee JP Doyle.
Head coach Stuart Lancaster said afterwards: ‘I had to calm it down, blow the whistle at the end and make sure we didn’t play the game too early.’
He was delighted by the players’ commitment and the calibre of opposition provided to a Test XV featuring two changes — with Mike Brown and Courtney Lawes recalled, as reported in yesterday’s Sportsmail.
‘The (non- starting) pack was Mako (Vunipola), Tom Youngs, Kieran Brookes, Parling, Kruis, Easter, Wood and Kvesic — who came in today as cover,’ said Lancaster. ‘You can see the quality of the players who were training against the starting XV.
‘Both sides had an edge about them. The non-XV, if you like, had a point to prove but also wanted to create some intensity in the session, particularly at the breakdown, to make sure we were accurate as a team.
‘They did that and were a huge challenge for us defensively. We had talked in the review of the Ireland game about being accurate at the breakdown and sharp. Those components came into play and it was the type of session you need sometimes in the lead up to a big game.’
Asked if the coaches sought to nurture the needle which was in evidence yesterday, Lancaster added: ‘You look for it, and the players were in the right place for today. I’ve been in training weeks where it’s been like that — and you have to make sure that translates to match day.
‘We wanted to put the starting team under pressure so that they get used to making decisions under pressure and the more you can replicate that in training, hopefully when the game comes around, it comes easy.’
Lancaster conceded that England needed to clear the air with a no-holds-barred session. What he also needed was to see some of his fringe squad operating at that intensity, so he paid close attention to Exeter centre Henry Slade and Bath’s cross-code recruit Sam Burgess.
Lawes has been reinstated in the second row at the expense of George Kruis and he confirmed that training yesterday had been combative. ‘It was tough,’ said the Northampton lock.
‘The boys were certainly up for it, which is what you want going into a game like this. You need to be on edge. It showed out there that we were certainly up for it at the weekend.’
This is not music to Scottish ears. England have been stewing, they are wound up and desperate to right the wrongs of Dublin. They’ve scrapped it out among themselves, now they’re primed to tear into Vern Cotter’s strugglers.
ENGLAND: M Brown; A Watson, J Joseph, L Burrell, J Nowell; G Ford, B Youngs; J Marler, D Hartley, D Cole, D Attwood, C Lawes, J Haskell, C Robshaw (capt), B Vunipola. Subs: T Youngs, M Vunipola, K Brookes, G Parling, T Wood, R Wigglesworth, D Cipriani, B Twelvetrees.