L
Lardinho
Guest
Everyone knows the possibility of bad weather in Scotland and how hard they are going to play against the English. England have got the players to cope with that, but have no idea how. Scotland deservedly beat England and its not as if the Scots were awe inspiring, they just looked hungrier, one look at how many times they turned us over shows that.
Kudos to the Scots and good for the Scots fans that they were able to take their chance to beat the old enemy and have done a few times in recent years. I'd been saying to my family all week "... yeah but Scotland can be tough as old boots to play at home, as well we know, let's not assume anything". I hate the fact that I was right, because it means for me, it was a dismal game, but had England miraculously stolen a try and win, it would have been unjust. You simply cannot underestimate how much "hunger" is a factor and a Scotland team at home, coach under pressure after a decent world cup is plenty of hunger. England should have come out with the veins in their necks close to bursting, frothing at the mouth to rip into the Scottish team. There was none of that and none of the passion.
Glaring mistakes were all around really, I think one very important point of why England turn over as much ball as they do and the forwards not being as dynamic a unit as an England fan is used to is the back row. For me, Lipman was the only quality here, he's the only one that did anything at all, now Lipman should never be the best flanker in the side, no disrespect meant to him personally, but certainly at this stage of his career, he is not world class. Yet to be the best says so much about the other two, Easter looked uninspired, I would drop him immediately, its tough when it comes to internationals, but Lipman was one of the few England boys who did look hungry, Easter looked apprehensive and gittery. Croft had a fairly bland game and unfortunately I don't think is up to international standard.
This is the major problem, look at Wales now, almost every one of them looks world class, there isn't a single player I could pick out and say "he just isn't an international player"... if I look at England, I can think of more than one;
Croft, Mears, Wigglesworth, Balshaw, Vianikolo.
- I'm afraid Balshaw has been ****, for want of a better word and shouldn't have been recalled. Its time we found a bloody good fullback or stick with tait. There are alternatives in the Premiership though.
-Vianikolo was picked purely through a few performances this season and on the back of media pressure, and lets be honest, the tabloids know **** about the modern game, regardless of what they harp on about, they are linguistic artists who get carried away, not rugby artists... not at all. Vianikolo could well be a force, I just hope his premature foray with England won't cost him his career as it almost certainly has with Henry Paul, both down to early exposure by poor coaches borne out of desperation than anything else. Simpson-Daniel might be the best option with Varndell having played a good amount of international u21/saxon rugby and top flight club rugby since his last England cap might mature into the role nicely.
- Mears may be plucky and quick when its a dry pitch and everything else is going right, but you need someone in there who is willing to much out whatever the weather and I'm not talking about old man Regan. Its time Chuter took over permanently as no.1 with maybe Thompson looking at a return if his recent consulations go well.
- Wigglesworth, 5th choice scrum half and it shows, he should have been constantly at the heels of his Scottish counterpart, but instead he was gingerly plucking the ball out of rucks he looked like he didn't want to go near and then taking a full step to pass the ball. All these things aside but he didn't even come close to making a break, or even trying one. Contrast that with Mike Phillips for Wales and it just shows how fall short "Wiggy" falls. Please... please stay fit, Harry Ellis... as he could hold the jersey for the next 4 years with young Care coming through inside him.
Apart from those players who aren't good enough to play international standard, there are plenty that are, yet didn't perform their duties at all well, one of them is a player I've defended a lot but in this instance was flat, although he wasn't given much option by several players, Noon had a disaster of a game, Vianikolo offered Wilkinson little to run off, same with Balshaw. Toby Flood however, was by far the best England back and continues to sparkle in every match, I just wish he was experienced enough, or Wilkinson honest enough for them to get together after just 20 minutes in and said "look, this isn't working at all, lets switch". This of course should have been Wilkinson's call and he and flood should have swapped on a number of plays as Jonny was offering little and Flood knows how to play 10 against international standard players as he has done at Newcastle before now.
Vickery offered little in the way of captaincy, anyone who lets the players around them play that badly without a f*cking good talking to, which I didn't see Vickery give, needs to be held accountable. Borthwick is my personal suggestion, I thought he was admirable before and fully respected by all the players.
Worsely and Moody will make a big difference I think, when they too finally return, but England can't go on limping to world cups with 3 **** years in between.
Most glaringly of all though was the reason that they did not come out teeth gnashing, shaking with anger and passion, not wanting to live past 80 minutes unless they secured the win. The coach, if they cannot leave the dressing room inspired, then the coach is not doing his job. I'm not denying that he is a great coach, but not a head coach. Just like Andy Robinson, as part of the right team, superb, as head honcho, not good. Not yet at least anyway, after years of failure and trying to work out the transition from minor coach to top dog, Andy Robinson is now producing some fabulous results, if they wanted Ashton to have a place as England coach in the future, they should have got another person in whilst Ashton remained a lesser coach for England and been given a top roll at one of the clubs. Ashton may well become an excellent coach like Robinson has, but he isn't right now and we need to start building for the next world cup right now, not 1 year before, just like the last world cup.
I don't think the RFU will find a replacement by the time England go to NZ this summer, which is a huge wasted opportunity as it'd be a great start for a coach, just like Woodward had 4 Southern Hemisphere matches to start his career off. The RFU though, are far too conservative and worried about protecting their arses to do anything, so Rob Andrew, stand up and be counted and sort this problem out NOW!
Kudos to the Scots and good for the Scots fans that they were able to take their chance to beat the old enemy and have done a few times in recent years. I'd been saying to my family all week "... yeah but Scotland can be tough as old boots to play at home, as well we know, let's not assume anything". I hate the fact that I was right, because it means for me, it was a dismal game, but had England miraculously stolen a try and win, it would have been unjust. You simply cannot underestimate how much "hunger" is a factor and a Scotland team at home, coach under pressure after a decent world cup is plenty of hunger. England should have come out with the veins in their necks close to bursting, frothing at the mouth to rip into the Scottish team. There was none of that and none of the passion.
Glaring mistakes were all around really, I think one very important point of why England turn over as much ball as they do and the forwards not being as dynamic a unit as an England fan is used to is the back row. For me, Lipman was the only quality here, he's the only one that did anything at all, now Lipman should never be the best flanker in the side, no disrespect meant to him personally, but certainly at this stage of his career, he is not world class. Yet to be the best says so much about the other two, Easter looked uninspired, I would drop him immediately, its tough when it comes to internationals, but Lipman was one of the few England boys who did look hungry, Easter looked apprehensive and gittery. Croft had a fairly bland game and unfortunately I don't think is up to international standard.
This is the major problem, look at Wales now, almost every one of them looks world class, there isn't a single player I could pick out and say "he just isn't an international player"... if I look at England, I can think of more than one;
Croft, Mears, Wigglesworth, Balshaw, Vianikolo.
- I'm afraid Balshaw has been ****, for want of a better word and shouldn't have been recalled. Its time we found a bloody good fullback or stick with tait. There are alternatives in the Premiership though.
-Vianikolo was picked purely through a few performances this season and on the back of media pressure, and lets be honest, the tabloids know **** about the modern game, regardless of what they harp on about, they are linguistic artists who get carried away, not rugby artists... not at all. Vianikolo could well be a force, I just hope his premature foray with England won't cost him his career as it almost certainly has with Henry Paul, both down to early exposure by poor coaches borne out of desperation than anything else. Simpson-Daniel might be the best option with Varndell having played a good amount of international u21/saxon rugby and top flight club rugby since his last England cap might mature into the role nicely.
- Mears may be plucky and quick when its a dry pitch and everything else is going right, but you need someone in there who is willing to much out whatever the weather and I'm not talking about old man Regan. Its time Chuter took over permanently as no.1 with maybe Thompson looking at a return if his recent consulations go well.
- Wigglesworth, 5th choice scrum half and it shows, he should have been constantly at the heels of his Scottish counterpart, but instead he was gingerly plucking the ball out of rucks he looked like he didn't want to go near and then taking a full step to pass the ball. All these things aside but he didn't even come close to making a break, or even trying one. Contrast that with Mike Phillips for Wales and it just shows how fall short "Wiggy" falls. Please... please stay fit, Harry Ellis... as he could hold the jersey for the next 4 years with young Care coming through inside him.
Apart from those players who aren't good enough to play international standard, there are plenty that are, yet didn't perform their duties at all well, one of them is a player I've defended a lot but in this instance was flat, although he wasn't given much option by several players, Noon had a disaster of a game, Vianikolo offered Wilkinson little to run off, same with Balshaw. Toby Flood however, was by far the best England back and continues to sparkle in every match, I just wish he was experienced enough, or Wilkinson honest enough for them to get together after just 20 minutes in and said "look, this isn't working at all, lets switch". This of course should have been Wilkinson's call and he and flood should have swapped on a number of plays as Jonny was offering little and Flood knows how to play 10 against international standard players as he has done at Newcastle before now.
Vickery offered little in the way of captaincy, anyone who lets the players around them play that badly without a f*cking good talking to, which I didn't see Vickery give, needs to be held accountable. Borthwick is my personal suggestion, I thought he was admirable before and fully respected by all the players.
Worsely and Moody will make a big difference I think, when they too finally return, but England can't go on limping to world cups with 3 **** years in between.
Most glaringly of all though was the reason that they did not come out teeth gnashing, shaking with anger and passion, not wanting to live past 80 minutes unless they secured the win. The coach, if they cannot leave the dressing room inspired, then the coach is not doing his job. I'm not denying that he is a great coach, but not a head coach. Just like Andy Robinson, as part of the right team, superb, as head honcho, not good. Not yet at least anyway, after years of failure and trying to work out the transition from minor coach to top dog, Andy Robinson is now producing some fabulous results, if they wanted Ashton to have a place as England coach in the future, they should have got another person in whilst Ashton remained a lesser coach for England and been given a top roll at one of the clubs. Ashton may well become an excellent coach like Robinson has, but he isn't right now and we need to start building for the next world cup right now, not 1 year before, just like the last world cup.
I don't think the RFU will find a replacement by the time England go to NZ this summer, which is a huge wasted opportunity as it'd be a great start for a coach, just like Woodward had 4 Southern Hemisphere matches to start his career off. The RFU though, are far too conservative and worried about protecting their arses to do anything, so Rob Andrew, stand up and be counted and sort this problem out NOW!
