Great start offers hope we are in for a tournament to remember
England can improve on win over Tonga but beaten Scotland know they are under pressure
You cannot win a World Cup in its first two weeks, but you can lose one. It is an old mantra that survives because it is true. Right now, the coaches and players of Scotland, Argentina and Fiji understand, from this point onwards, it is virtually knockout rugby. The pressure this puts on a squad can inspire or cow and we are about to find out how those sides react.
The remaining games for Fiji and Argentina are no less tricky than those faced by the Scots, but they have one consolation from their losses to Australia and France respectively. For periods of the game they played well and in different circumstances could have won. Had the Argentinians played with a little more care and shown the ability to spot and convert overlaps, they would not have lost to a French drop goal in the closing minutes of a tense game.
The only solace that Scotland might find in their defeat by Ireland is that they probably will not play that badly again. This is scant comfort when you consider they have two of the better tier-two teams to play in Samoa and Japan. Had it not been for the onset of rain and Ireland’s decision to then play low-risk rugby, the winning margin would have been far greater than 24 points. From where does Gregor Townsend, the Scottish head coach, summon the furies to bolster his side’s efforts? Even the traditional cussedness that usually compensates for lack of resources was absent yesterday.
For England, it was no more than job done. The number of penalties and unforced handling errors was far too high for Eddie Jones to feel comfortable and England failed to put together more than a handful of fluent passages of play. The basis of England’s recent good form has been the variety of ways in which they challenge defences when carrying the ball. Little of this was evident against Tonga but they have not yet played their full first XV and full list of carriers. What matters is that from this point on they incrementally get better.
The one huge plus point in England’s performance was that of Manu Tuilagi.
Powerful bursts and deceptive speed often attracted three defenders at a time and, if he stays fit, Tuilagi gives England many more options, provided they use him in the right combination as carrier and dummy runner. It has been so long since we have seen Tuilagi play consistently well that for some England fans this comes as a revelation. For others, it is a reminder about how much further forward England might have been had they had him available for the past four years. When it comes down to it, they delivered a bonus point win, with more to come and that is what matters.
There are different ways of looking at this draw and huge clashes between South Africa and New Zealand, Ireland and Scotland and France and Argentina did not give those teams the luxury of playing themselves into the tournament. The winners can now afford to rest players towards the end of the pool games which England cannot. Their final two games mean they have to win five big games in a row, which will require an amount of good fortune on the injury front.
At least the Boks and Kiwis will not meet again unless they both make the final, and many believe they will. If so, we should hope they repeat what was a pulsating game, which showed why the All Blacks remain the one team against which you cannot afford not to make the most of any periods when you have them under pressure. With only nine minutes of possession in the first half, the Kiwis went into the break 17–3 up. The fact that they took their try-scoring chances when they presented themselves is a simple, yet accurate summary of their win. The basic skills of running the right angles, at the right depth and delivering the pass in front of the man are done under the most intense pressure. This is made to look so easy that it often goes unappreciated. Not until you see games strewn with handling errors and poor basic skills do you understand that the difference between the top sides and the rest is small but crucial.
So, a great start to the tournament but we need the officials to play their part. A fluid game is not achieved by being lax with offside lines and the breakdown laws. If anything, you need to be stricter in these areas in the earliest pool games to set the tone for the remaining fixtures and keep players honest. If the officials do this immediately we could have a tournament to remember.