LOSS TO WALES IS NO DISGRACE

DeFeAT in cardiff last week has prompted much discussion about the resolve of the england rugby team. Warren Gatland’s comments that england often fail in big games have led many to question whether the players of eddie Jones (below) can rise to the occasion. Other big defeats in Wales, and a couple in Dublin when the Grand Slam was on the line, have been mentioned, too. Yet might there be a more straightforward explanation? That the Six nations remains a devilishly hard competition to win, that Dublin and cardiff are difficult places to visit, and a great many teams in similar circumstances would struggle. People forget that england fell short under Sir clive Woodward, too, including one painful occasion in Scotland, in 2000, when the hosts secured their only win of the tournament to deny england the Grand Slam. Fast forward three years and england are preparing for the World cup final in Australia. At a press conference are Martin Johnson, Lawrence Dallaglio and richard Hill. not small, any of them. A friend and colleague asks a question. When he replays his tape, he hears that as Hill is answering, Johnson leans into Dallaglio and murmurs, ‘That’s the bloke who called us bottlers when we lost at Murrayfield’. Press and players were staying at the same hotel in Manly and my friend made sure he was accompanied whenever he entered a lift. And england regained their bottle when it mattered in Sydney. The Six nations is tough.