RUGBY:THREE POINTS need to be made about England on the eve of the 2011 Rugby World Cup. First, they badly require a more fluent all-round display against Ireland today than they produced in Dublin last March. Second, they are destined to be a better-balanced team in 12 months' time than they are now. And third? For all their power up front and pace at the back, it will take a considerable feat of alchemy to transform them into trophy-hoisting golden boys by the third week in October.
Numbers one and two are the short-term and longer-term priorities but it is the last which will define the tenure of England’s current management. It is now three and a half years since Martin Johnson was appointed; with his team’s opening pool game just a fortnight away he still finds himself agonising over at least seven positions. You can see what he wants – crank up the power, minimise mistakes, win the collisions – but there remain too many blunt pencil stabbings where the fine attacking details should be. “Dull as ditch water” was the tart, unimpressed verdict of one highly respected Premiership coach this week.
The latest injury concerns for Nick Easter and Tom Wood have also fuelled fears that England are back on a pot-holed road towards perdition. This is not, necessarily, the end of the world.
“Is that all you’ve got?” sneered the famous headline in The Australian in 2003, shortly before England went on to lift the Webb Ellis Cup. Similarly, few supporters filing dejectedly out of the Stade de France having watched Brian Ashton’s team thrashed by South Africa in the 2007 pool stages would have given half a stale croissant for their chances of making the final. England are often at their best when no one rates them and they don’t care.
So what is the truth? Are England flattering to deceive or are they genuine contenders? Talk to Brian Smith, England’s attack coach, and he will insist they are very much still pursuing the holy grail. “Everyone wants to be associated with winning teams who play the beautiful game. That’s our goal. We want to be a team that blows teams off the park; if there is an opportunity to go from deep, we’re going to take it.”
England’s back play could hardly have been uglier in Cardiff but, on the eve of the Irish sequel, Smith swears his team’s slack-jawed attacking effort was a blip. Nor is he fazed by what he has seen from the All Black and Wallaby backs in recent weeks. “If you were to ask: ‘Is there a gulf between the Tri Nations and the northern hemisphere at the moment?’ you’d say: ‘Yeah.‘ Those guys are in mid-season, they’re in full flight. But we’ve got plenty of time before we hit a Tri-Nations team at the World Cup. You’ve also got to be careful not to look at the Tri-Nations teams through rose-coloured glasses.
“There’s a belief within this squad, for example, that we can put Australia away, because we’ve done it the last two times we’ve played them.”
Interesting. England’s self-confidence is clearly still intact. They are also convinced their latest midfield triangle will not prove to be of the Bermuda variety; Smith points to Pat McCabe, Ma’a Nonu and Sonny Bill Williams, powerful 12s rather than flighty playmakers. Mike Tindall and the emerging Manu Tuilagi, he argues, might be closer to the modern ideal than people assume. In Smith’s opinion, Tests these days are won in the 20 minutes either side of the interval. “For me, the opportunities for a ball-playing 12 now happen later in the contest.” Early in games, he argues, field position and midfield power are more crucial.
Which partially explains England’s switch at outhalf and the return of a revitalised Jonathan Peter Wilkinson. It seems centuries ago – well, one anyway – that Jonny was not selected to start England’s 1999 World Cup quarter-final because a steadier hand (Paul Grayson) was deemed essential. Now, against all odds, the 32-year-old Wilkinson is back, smashing personal fitness bests and willing us all to forget the lean, painful, tortured years. He may have thrown away his crutches but England seem determined to lean on him again. And why not? His points tally for England stands at 1,141 in 83 Tests. Toby Flood, his rival at number 10, has contributed 169 in 37 outings.
In France they see only a modest, inspiring hero who will always convert field position into points and plays with a workaholic’s passion. As recently as 18 months ago, even so, Wilkinson was being criticised by Matt Dawson for struggling to read a game or to conjure anything not already “planned on a flip chart in team meetings”. Now, following Flood’s shaky display in Cardiff, he has the chance to bury that perception. Smith, for one, hopes Dublin will be a tactical step forward.
“Our issue in Cardiff was that we forgot to respect the game. We were taught a lesson.
“It’s no good going down to New Zealand and getting out your toy bag. It’s about putting the opposition under pressure. You can do that with the ball or by putting it through the posts. We’ve got to make sure we strike that balance. We know that, if we’re going to win this World Cup, we’ve got to win it as a squad. No seven-man backline or eight-man pack can do it on their own.”
