England v Australia - lessons learned??
By DC

Ok so I have had my rant following the Wales v All Black game, and I put off writing this article in case people thought I was just bashing England for the sake of it. But I have put it off for two days now and I cannot hold it in any more – after all rugby players are big enough to put up with a little bit of constructive criticism.

Let’s start off with Australia, coming in to this match everyone with a voice loud enough was saying that Australia were on the ropes, ripe for the picking. Granted they have lost their fair share of games in the last few months but let’s step back here, yes Australia have lost games to the two best sides in the world, so we are not talking mugs here. Deans took over and promised development and progress and then they lose against the Springboks and the All Blacks – shame on you Robbie, how can you sleep at night? Robbie Deans promised that new players would come in and that they would make a difference ...... ok let’s keep that in mind and take a look at Saturday.

Will Genia, the man of the match, has evolved from a hot headed Super 14 player into the makings of a serious scrum half on the World stage, it is still too soon for the obvious Gregan comparisons, but he has his foot in the door and has more than enough talent to kick it open. He lit up the

Man of the match Will Genia

field on Saturday hunting out gaps like a Falcon swooping on his prey; he has a lightning pass with the accuracy of a stinger missile. Quade Cooper, according to the team sheet started at inside centre, but his inter changing with Giteau was the key to the Australian offensive plan. Both Cooper and Giteau drifted in and out of positions with effortless ease – the home nations could learn so much from their second half display. Loane moved in field to start at outside centre, in place of the old war horse Mortlock – he might not have set the world on fire but at least he looked capable of breaking the gain line.

Let’s not forget that James O’Connor did not even take to the field, lucky for England to be honest, O’Connor is a world class player, a legend in the making – he has the whole package – and he is only about ... what 10 years old. I am convinced that I saw O’Connor doing his Maths home work while sitting on the bench – he has a youthful carefree approach to his game and I am sure he will light up the field at some point on this tour. Deans has also shown faith in Wycliff Palu, he might not be a young whipper snapper like some of his team mates, but he has less that 20 caps to his name and looks destined to increase that number. Palu roared around the field like an untamed Mustang, smashing anything he could get his hands on –a brutal force of nature, another one growing under the watchful eye of Robbie Deans.

So yes Australia have lost this year, but they have also beaten the Springboks – anyone of the home nations would take a win like that. Australia are on the simmer they have not exploded into life but I am starting to get the feeling that Deans has a plan, a plan that will come full circle ready for the World Cup. He has the players and they have the arsenal, they are not the complete side yet but they managed to come from a first half deficit to beat England at home – all the other home nations would take a win like that.

Ok let’s look at England – what did we see and what did we learn? In the opening minutes England drove into the Australian 22, the ball shipped to Jonny and instinctively he slots home a drop kick. Not thinking about opening the ball out, not thinking about going for the 5 maybe 7 points, instead let’s get the 3 and start all over again. Like I said a few days ago a return to the old guard, back to time when England won with

Lacking his old pace Jonny Wilkinson

three point kicks not sizzling tries. Ok yes the Springboks play smash, play for penalties rugby – but at least they score tries – they get ahead then finish off the opposition.

On Saturday Wales had chances to score but bottled it, they made poor mistakes – England never looked like scoring a try – in fact they looked less likely to score than the spotty, geeky kid at his first prom. England lack imagination, they did not know what to do with the ball once they had it, yes there were touches, flecks of genius – the little chip kick from Jonny, that was reminiscent of THAT chip against the All Blacks, the difference is that Jonny has lost pace. He slammed his foot on the pedal and nothing happened like the QE2 pulling away from the lights. Don’t get me wrong, Jonny in defence was a Spartan – I have not seen a tackling display like that form an outside half in years – he hit everything in his path picking them up and driving them back like a flanker twice his size. But Should Jonny be doing this, should England be risking a national treasure and hard hitting confrontation when they have flankers on the pitch? After all Jonny is back and they want to keep him, protect your treasured players, would you put the Crown Jewels in a blender, or make the Queen tightrope walk over a pit of hungry tigers – NO – so treat Jonny the same keep him out of harm’s way for God sake.

Inside Jonny we had Geraghty – he has played all season at pivot so why change his position? Well it worked for Giteau and Cooper – but not so much for Geraghty. He looked ineffective, as useful as a rainbow trout on a ski slope – not just a fish out of water, a lost clueless fish trying to complete a jigsaw with pieces missing and no idea what the picture was meant to be. England need to decide either Jonny or Geraghty at pivot, one or the other you cannot have both – like giving Stevie Wonder a copy of Naughty Busty Babes – pointless.

At full back they played Monye, and he has played there a few times for Quins this season, but it’s a long jump from the club game to the international stage – ask James Hook. Monye is a fantastic player, he has a future ahead of him – but on the wing not at full back, you would not take a fine crystal glass and fill it with Tizer. Put players where they play week in week out, where they make their living if not just throw 15 shirts on the floor and draw lots for positions. The other wingers, well they barely touched the ball, having a player like Banahan on the wing is a serious bonus – but unless he gets the ball he might as well be a space hopper out there.

With the exception of Jonny no player stood out for England, on the hour a whole wave of changes took place – youth came on and the gauntlet for places was thrown down – England improved but still lacked the cutting edge. In a different sport at a different time – one pundit said you

Stifling his players? Martin Johnson

don’t win anything with kids – I agree but what the kids do is learn, adapt and develop and given time you don’t have kids you have a well crafted unit of winners. Granted England have had some serious injury problems – and I mean serious they have lost more players than skittles in a family bumper bag – but is that an excuse? Martin Johnson has at his disposal the biggest selection of players, the biggest union, and the biggest funds of any of the home nations if not the world – and what does he do with it – rewind time and field an ineffective outfit. Johnson could have let players off the leash, let the young stars throw the ball around – would the fans rather watch their side go down fighting or just flapping around like goldfish in a frying pan. Come on Martin – you were a warrior on the pitch, if any one understands the pride and passion a player feels when he pulls on the Red Rose it’s you – don’t strangle and stifle your players let them free, what have you got to lose? It’s not as if it was a close game on Saturday – the only way England would have won is if the Australian players had taken it in turns to give away penalties by kicking the Ref in the spuds.

England, like Wales, need to ring the changes and bring in some new faces – the players that came on after an hour should be on the field from the beginning. Play with our fear, we all know that it’s not a first choice England side injuries have seen to that – but that does not mean that the team has to play without pride and passion. Let the players dazzle, give them a licence to thrill and they will. Give this squad a chance to throw the ball around and play heads up rugby and they will rattle teams. Let’s forget about drumming defensive drills into the players – after all even the most uneducated among us know that the best defence is a good offence, we all learnt that from the classic episode of Thundercats.

What have we learned – simple, big Martin is in charge and he has his ample hands on the reins – let the players play. After all when I spoke to one English fan this afternoon and asked him about his teams display on Saturday he simply said ... and I quote “Hrrmmm ... errmmmm...wellll...you know” – I am sure that man would rather have said “ we gave it our best shot”.

DC