RBS SIX NATIONS 2008
ENGLAND v WALES
Match Review by PoyntoShark

It was supposed to be the brave new dawn. It was supposed to be the re-birth of England Rugby. It was supposed to be fresh and new and exciting. Looked more like ‘All Hail the new boss, same as the old boss’. England’s second half performance against Wales was at least as bad as anything we saw in the darkest days of the Robinson era, matched only for ineptness by the first half performance of our opponents.

The first half appeared at first glance to offer some improvements. There was attacking intent from England, the wingers got a little ball and an embryonic centre partnership may even have put in an appearance. However, look a little deeper and even in that first half little had changed. The ball that wingers had came mostly from broken play; I don’t remember a single passing move that made its way all the way to the wing. The most exciting moment of the game was a break by Strettle, coruscating is, I believe, the de rigueur word to describe it, as he collected the ball from a Welsh kick. Even then, the end of that move highlighted a problem with the English game, Strettle found himself deep in the Wales 22 with no apparent support and chose to kick, when a modicum of composure, even  hint that he was looking for support and a half decent pass, could have seen Sackey stroll over the line unopposed.

The centre pairing looked more assured than any in the recent past for England. Flood in particular was composed, offered an attacking threat and answered a few questions about his defence. Tindall seemed to slot right back into test match rugby as though he had never been away, unfortunately, that usually meant him trucking it up the middle and into contact, though probably not entirely his fault, any room he may have had to work was usually wasted by Gomersall’s regularly wayward delivery. Tindall’s contribution to the team was most acutely recognised when he departed in the second half with a serious looking shoulder injury, England’s defence promptly disintegrated.

Early injuries to Moody and Strettle will obviously have hardly helped England’s cause, though many would argue that Rees at 7 instead of Moody offers more balance, and the inclusion of Lesley Vainikolo was responsible for England’s try. I still find it hard to believe that sides let England score with that cross kick to the winger, 75% of our tries in past 4/5 years must have come from that method.

Two of the biggest disappointments of the game for me were both successful kicks at goal. The first, in the first half, presumably a decision by Jonny Wilkinson to take the drop goal, when England were deep in the Wales 22 and had completed only 2 or three phases. Hardly concerted pressure which had failed to find a way through.  The decision just smacked of a lack of confidence in our ability to score a try. The second came early in the second half, this time a penalty so presumably the decision was Phil Vickery’s. England had a penalty in or close to Wales 22 and chose to kick to the corner, a decision I applauded. At the resultant line-out Simon Shaw (or rather his supporters) were taken out whilst he was in the air, giving England another penalty, this time from a similar, albeit 10 yards further infield, position, with our opponents having already given away a penalty at the line-out, and with 3 players on the field with the line-out ability of Shaw, Borthwick and Kay, England shunned the chance to exert pressure and opted for the 3 points, once again exhibiting a lack of confidence in our own abilities.

Many people are asking what went on in the England dressing room at half time, why on earth did England decide to change the way they were playing. My view is that they didn’t particularly, the only difference was that in the second half Wales managed to raise their performance level to just about acceptable, and that was enough to put England completely out of their stride. Wales must have found it difficult to believe that after perhaps the worst 40 minutes of rugby most of them have ever played, they were only 10 points adrift, this, and no doubt one or two carefully chosen expletives from Messer’s  Gatland, Howley and Edwards saw them raise their game in the second half, but let’s not kid ourselves that this was one of the great Wales performances, delighted though the coaching staff no doubt were with the result, and quite rightly too, I don’t think many of the Welsh players will be getting an easy ride in training this week.

What did happen in that second half? Well, Wales stopped throwing wild passes to no-one and England started (Andy Gomersall continued). The Welsh half backs in particular grew in confidence, whilst England’s experienced players withdrew further and further into their shells. Once Wales stopped laying possession and territory on a plate for England, they lost composure almost completely. The match commentators described them as ‘rudderless’; I would add ‘clueless’ to the description. With Tindall departed England’s defensive organisation also disintegrated. Unlike England in the first half Wales chose to attack the line and, from far fewer opportunities than England had, scored double the number of tries.

In the aftermath of such abject failure the vultures are inevitably looking for scapegoats with the old favourite Balsup Balshaw topping most lists, but this time he is not alone Brian Ashton, Phil Vickery, Andy Gomersall and even Jonny Wilkinson (not just from the regular Jonny bashers) are taking large doses of criticism. Whilst I agree that all the players mentioned above had what would at best be described as decidedly average performances, and that Brian Ashton and his selections must take their share of blame, I do think that looking for individuals to blame is missing the point that the TEAM just didn’t perform. Every single player a valid target for some level of criticism. Will Ashton make wholesale changes for Italy? No I don’t believe he will, particularly with Tindall and Ress almost certainly out and Moody probably out I doubt that any further changes will be made at all. With one or two notable exceptions, who simply haven’t been playing well, I’m not even sure that a huge change in personnel is what is required, a change in attitude is more important, my fear is that it is too late to change the habits of those that have most influence in this side.

Quick scores on doors. Given collective responsibility, impossible for anyone to get more than 7.

England (16) 19
Try: Flood
Cons: Wilkinson
Pens: Wilkinson 3
Drop-goal: Wilkinson

Wales (6) 26
Tries: Byrne, Phillips
Cons: Hook 2
Pens: Hook 4

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