Twelvetrees turned what he plainly regarded as his personal shame from the Australia game – feeling he had let down himself, family, friends, team-mates, the shirt, the world and his wife – into the highest motivation against the Pumas at Twickenham.
For that, England coach Stuart Lancaster can take satisfaction, having offered Twelvetrees his confidence four days before confirming his selection, and also offer thanks, as England appear to have solved their timeworn midfield conundrum. This goes beyond the perceived need for a second playmaker outside the fly-half.
Twelvetrees’ creative capacity is unarguable. But it is at least as much about the strength and resilience that even someone as prosaic as Shontayne Hape had when wearing 12 for England.
At 6ft 3in and 15st 10lb, he has similar dimensions to Hape’s, more than sufficient as midfield stopper as well as provider. After Argentina, he can claim the missed tackle on Matt Toomua that gave Australia their try was simply a technical aberration .
“I had been hugely disappointed but I was motivated to put things right this time, worked hard to do so and pulled it off,†said Twelvetrees. “Playing on this big stage, it’s easy enough to motivate yourself to get things right.
“When you don’t perform to the best of your ability you feel you’ve let everyone down. Stuart put my mind at ease. I am confident and to beat the All Blacks, or just to play the All Blacks, is any English player’s dream.â€
Lancaster would prefer his men did not obsess about Saturday’s opposition. Helpfully, there was enough which went wrong in the second half against the Pumas, as in the first against the Wallabies, to force them to concentrate on themselves .
Not least, this was a poor Argentina team – an evaluation proved by their lamentable failure to do anything worthwhile with the glut of possession they enjoyed after the interval. Four penalties adequately reflected their sparse scoring potential.
Captain Juan Leguizamon was so isolated in his relentless combativity that he swiftly incurred a personal deficit of 17 points, being responsible for five of England’s first six penalties.
Article source: http://www.3news.co.nz/Scottish-rugby-boss-sees-Euro-Cup-solution/tabid/415/articleID/315698/Default.aspx
England 31 - Argentina 12: Billy Twelvetrees solves muddle in the middle
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