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 7/10/07
Could this be England's World Cup again? The
second extraordinary quarter-final on a day
of upset and raw emotion has pitted England
against France in Saturday's semi-final at
the Stade de France. New Zealand, far and
away the best team in the four years between
World Cups, have blown another tournament.
In a sense they have gone backwards. Under
John Mitchell, Graham Henry's predecessor,
the All Blacks reached the semi-finals.
Yesterday they crashed and burned in the
round before.
No one, no one, will have a clue as to what
Saturday's Anglo-French clash will bring.
This World Cup has made a mockery of
pundits, bookies, everyone. Already it is
the most sensational competition in terms of
upsets there has ever been which is why only
a fool would attempt a prediction.
Let me introduce you to the next fool. Me. I
think England have the beating of France. Of
that there is no doubt. England swept past
them in this season's Six Nations and,
despite a relatively poor run of recent
results, there is a history of big clashes
between the two countries where England have
triumphed. France were England's victims in
the semi-final in 2003 and France were the
fall guys when the two countries met in the
ferocious quarter-final in 1991.
And, irony of ironies, the All Blacks
actually showed England how to vanquish
France last might. The Blacks crumbled when
the pressure came on at the end but when
they were firing they made a mess of
France's line-out and scrummage. England
proved against Australia in Marseille that
they also have that capability. The French
are no mugs when it comes to the tight but
Andrew Sheridan and the boys will be itching
to have a crack at them at scrum-time and
the Wasps' contingent in the England squad
will delight in explaining how flaky and
erratic Raphael Ibanez's throwing in to the
line-out can be.
England will be concerned at France's
capacity to come back in a match they were
out of. They will also be worried at the
momentum the host nation is building even in
the unfamiliar surroundings of the
Millennium Stadium. There was a whiff of
destiny about the result in Cardiff last
night, a whiff England themselves had about
them four years ago in the Sydney classics
when they swept the world before them.
But England must not worry too much about
France. There has been neither rhyme nor
reason about the way they have progressed in
this tournament to date. In the matches
against Samoa and Tonga, England changed
their strategy after internal grumblings
within the squad. On Friday night, on the
eve of England's biggest challenge in years,
those grumblings surfaced again. Several
senior players complained of a lack of
direction coming from the coaches. There
were mutterings of differences of opinion
between Brian Ashton, Mike Ford and John
Wells behind closed doors. Things were so
serious that late on Friday night Jonny
Wilkinson was party to a conversation
between the team's on-field tacticians that
led to a change of strategy.
Yet despite this England came through
against Australia. Actually, "came through"
doesn't do justice to their performance. But
how much credit should go to Ashton and his
co-conspirators and how much should be laid
at the feet of the team's leaders is hard to
determine. One senior player put it thus.
"If this group wasn't so tight we would have
gone down the pan weeks ago," he said. It
appears as if the players are finally
asserting themselves
Perversely, England might also have
benefited from their appalling start to this
World Cup. Their tribulations against South
Africa and the States ensured that England
faced two gunslinger knock-out encounters
against Samoa and Tonga and those fixtures
in retrospect were the ideal preparation for
a quarter-final because England were
noticeably battle-hardened in ways which the
Wallabies palpably weren't. It will help
their effort against France too.
Tonga and Samoa were also ideal opposition
for other reasons. Their historical
frailties were England's strengths. England
were allowed to power up their scrum and
line-out in a way in which they couldn't
against the States because of inexplicable
lethargy and which they couldn't against the
Boks because the Boks refused them
permission. Slowly, inexorably, from an
awful start, England's game began to take
shape.
Significant players also emerged. Nick
Easter, the Quins back row forward, has
visibly grown in stature as the competition
has gone on. In the summer Easter served
notice that he might be an effective ball
carrier by bouncing the Boks out of the road
when playing in a seriously under-strength
England team. Easter, boosted by first
season syndrome which allows a year or so of
progress to be made before the video freaks
start highlighting faults, has maintained
that momentum. He is not a particularly big
man by modern standards and he shuffles
along like an old tramp at times but he
pulverised the Wallabies forcing turnover
after turnover. He will be key against
France.
Andy Gomarsall, another Quin, has come good
just at the right time. On the face of it
Gomarsall is a rather ordinary scrum half.
His pass is ordinary, he kicks ordinarily
and he rarely breaks with any conviction yet
he has calmed this England side down and
shepherded them forward. But if Gomarsall's
organisational skills are first rate, then
his attitude is something else. Against the
Tongans he was chirpy and cheeky, pulling up
tired forwards who were struggling to get
off the ground, slapping the backsides of
those who might want to shirk in the driving
mauls. Yesterday he got right in the teeth
of George Gregan and unsettled him. Somehow,
Gomarsall has come to represent the
heartbeat of this side and he and Easter
have given permission for the rest of the
military medium to come through.
Paul Sackey is one such beneficiary. By all
accounts Sackey is the prime example of the
distrusting Englishman travelling abroad,
knotted white handkerchief perched firmly on
head. Burger and chips not bouillabaisse is
his preferred plat du jour on the squad's
weekly evening out. Yet Sackey is indulged
and cherished because under Martin Corry and
Phil Vickery, England's two captains, there
are no cliques, no hierarchies. This is a
very democratic squad and it is through them
all pulling together that they have achieved
the unthinkable and dragged themselves into
a semi final of a World Cup.
Diffidence, oddly, is the defining
characteristic of this group. Sheridan,
yesterday's hero, is impossibly polite, well
mannered and quiet. Matt Stevens is equally
civil. So is Wilkinson. In 2003 England had
a bunch of egos who combined beautifully
under Woodward to seize their moment.
Woodward believed he could win that World
Cup right at the start of his campaign and
said so. This bunch are not like that. They
take things more slowly, more discreetly.
But they are moving in the same direction.
And, who knows? They just might even come up
with the same result.
And how good will it be to have a northern
hemisphere side in the final whatever
happens on Saturday night. After the dismal
performances of Wales and Ireland, after
England's and France's dire beginnings,
there was a chance that rugby this side of
the equator was terminally wounded. After
yesterday that is not the case. After
tomorrow, if Scotland do their stuff, there
might be three Six Nations sides left in the
competition. These are extraordinary times
indeed.
PAUL ACKFORD -
Sunday Telegraph | Sunday, 7 October 2007
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