Defence is a skill. Just because it's one of the very basic parts of the game doesn't mean its not a skill and one in which players have varying levels of ability. It's a skill that we teach - how to tackle, where to stand, when to tackle. It's both an individual skillset and a group skillset. And there are a lot of players who don't have it at their chosen level and when that happens its a real weakness.
So I'm disagreeing there.
Incidentally - if there's one thing that exasperates me about spending a lot of time around Irish rugby fans, it's their belief that English packs will be bigger than theirs, regardless of the actual stats. Eyeballing the weights, the England team that played Ireland in the semi-final wouldn't have weighed much more, and certainly not more than the Welsh team they beat. In my experience, the big differences between the teams tend to be conditioning levels and professional experience - and yes, raw talent. As profitus notes earlier, most Ireland age grade sides who are carrying at least a few players who don't have a hope of becoming much in the game. There are far less such players in the England sides.
So I'm disagreeing there.
Incidentally - if there's one thing that exasperates me about spending a lot of time around Irish rugby fans, it's their belief that English packs will be bigger than theirs, regardless of the actual stats. Eyeballing the weights, the England team that played Ireland in the semi-final wouldn't have weighed much more, and certainly not more than the Welsh team they beat. In my experience, the big differences between the teams tend to be conditioning levels and professional experience - and yes, raw talent. As profitus notes earlier, most Ireland age grade sides who are carrying at least a few players who don't have a hope of becoming much in the game. There are far less such players in the England sides.
