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 3/9/07
Well, at least there is no expectation
weighing them down. As England prepare for
their first World Cup match against the
lowly US of A this Saturday, no one, not
even I suspect the more honest souls among
the coaches and players in the England
squad, anticipates anything more than
gallant failure. They'll stuff the Yanks all
right and, for a brief moment, we will talk
in positive terms about England's forward
strength and flashes of creativity, missing
for much of the last 12 months, but then the
Springboks will loom large and England's
first major examination will commence.
Unlike some, I don't rate this particular
South African team, certainly not enough to
place them behind New Zealand and on a level
with France as joint second favourites.
Their destruction of Scotland at Murrayfield
last weekend was impressive but then I don't
rate Scotland as anything more sophisticated
than a bunch of honest toilers. Yet it is
indicative of England's current malaise that
South Africa might very well prove too
strong for them, shunting them towards a
probable semi-final against New Zealand and
extinction.
Because if this World Cup is about anything
it is about power. Power in the defensive
tackle; power over the ball in the contact
areas; power in the driving mauls, in the
scrummage and in the one-on-one collisions.
And it's not just confined to the forwards
and the midfield backs either. These days,
with the more intelligent teams able to
target individuals in their attacking plays,
it is crucial that scrum-halves, wings, full
backs and outside halves are big and
brutish. It doesn't make watching Test rugby
particularly edifying sometimes but it is a
fact of modern life.
There are exceptions of course. Men like Dan
Carter, Brian O'Driscoll, Jason Robinson,
Matt Giteau, Freddie Michalak and Shane
Williams (sometimes), and Bryan Habana
demonstrate that there are still outlets for
craftsmanship, that there are ways to
beguile or bewitch opponents rather than run
through them. But they are rare beasts and
are not representative of the modern trend.
And this is England's problem. They lack
real, dynamic, explosive power, none more so
than their totemic symbol, Lawrence
Dallaglio. We're not talking falling off a
cliff here. Dallaglio will still rage and
rampage. He will still have an impact on the
tournament but Dallaglio, like some in
England's squad, has had his golden moments
on the rugby fields round the world. Guys
like Josh Lewsey, Mark Regan and, yes,
possibly even Jonny Wilkinson are also
fading slowly. Rugby World Cup 2003 was all
about experience and consistency and England
pressed those buttons but the caravan has
since moved on.
Where are the England players to put the
frighteners on the big teams? Wilkinson
might trouble them with his penalty-taking
accuracy but now that others are privy to
the technical assistance he alone once
enjoyed his percentages are not that much
different from the rest. Plus, England have
to get Wilkinson into the areas of the pitch
to allow him to work his magic.
Tom Rees is another who is tipped to make a
difference. Rees is 22. He has won six caps
for his country, three of those off the
bench; he is playing in a back row which is
far from settled and he is operating in the
most ferociously competitive environment of
all. Rees is a fine player and could go on
to become a great one, but to ask him not
just to compete but to better the likes of
Richie McCaw, George Smith, Juan Smith and
Remy Martin is ridiculous.
So England will have to march on holding
fast to their traditional virtues of team
spirit, organisation, a decent first-phase
platform and good old-fashioned obduracy. If
head coach Brian Ashton gets his selections
right and England are fortunate with
injuries, Ben Kay and Simon Shaw will
provide decent possession from the lineout.
The scrummage, too, with Andrew Sheridan
finally coming back into form, looks tidy,
though Phil Vickery's dodgy injury record
makes Julian White's decision to stand down
for this World Cup all the more disturbing.
But getting those areas right won't make
England a credible force in this World Cup.
To do that they have to address an area
which has concerned them since the last one:
how to unsettle defences away from the
channels close to the safety blanket of the
forwards. And here Ashton has been unlucky.
Injuries to Mike Tindall and David Strettle
have deprived him of two men who, in
different ways, can bust open defences.
True, England do have Robinson who can play
a bit, and Mark Cueto might make a fist of
full back sooner rather than later. Paul
Sackey, downhill and with a following wind,
might skip out of a tackle or two. But,
Robinson apart, there is no one in the wide
positions who regularly sets hearts
fluttering when he gets near the ball. And
that's if the ball ever negotiates the mess
that is England's midfield.
Mind you, that is one positive that will
emerge from this World Cup, because whatever
happens to England over the next seven
weeks, in the future we will be spared the
interminable debate over the merits of a
certain Andy Farrell. If England get to a
semi-final or beyond and Farrell plays a
significant role in that journey he will
have proved his worth. If not, he will be
seen as a luxury neither the Rugby Football
Union (financially) nor Ashton
(strategically) should have afforded. My
sense is that we will see Farrell as the
union player he is: reliable, accurate and
committed but no more than that, and
certainly not of a calibre to challenge the
aristocrats of the world game.
But enough of England's woes. World Cups are
as much a check on the vibrancy of the sport
as they are about the fortunes of individual
nations and it will be fascinating to
discover if there is more genuine
competition between countries during the
pool stages. France and Ireland will be
looking over their shoulders at Argentina;
Wales will take Fiji and Canada seriously;
England will secretly fear the abrasive
Samoans and even the all-conquering All
Blacks might spare a thought or two for
Italy, who shook Ireland recently. Scotland
certainly will. If this World Cup is to have
a lasting impact then matches between those
countries must be as tight going into the
last quarter as they are in the first.
And the sport also needs to show that the
gym is not the beginning and end of a
player's education. Crank up the power by
all means but not at the expense of
subtlety. Test rugby needs to find a balance
between creativity and brick walls. That
approach is at the heart of New Zealand's
challenge and for that reason alone it is
legitimate to hope that they end a 20-year
World Cup drought when the final is played,
appropriately enough, on Oct 20 in the Stade
de France in Paris.
It is fair to assume, though, that by then
England's warriors will be fully immersed in
Premiership action once more.
PAUL ACKFORD -
Sunday Telegraph | Monday, 3 September 2007
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