They need opponents to be worried about coming to HQ, something that is not
the case yet. England and the team’s fans have made a lot of their defeat of
the All Blacks last year. It was seen by many as a defining moment, of a
team coming of age. I did a question and answer session with Graham Rowntree
and Alex Corbisiero at Twickenham following that match. Graham talked of the
tremendous pride he felt in seeing the team deliver against the All Blacks
when England had been written off. He spoke of the fact that, in the context
of All Blacks results, it was something that very few teams had managed to
do.
While they rightly enjoyed their moment, I did, unfortunately, also manage to
wake the beast in Graham when I asked if he was disappointed with the
earlier results against Australia and South Africa, both of which ended in
losses. I was told, in no uncertain terms, that this was a young side, just
coming together. While it was a fair point at the time, today another year
has ticked on. The time has arrived when England will need to start
delivering from the first minute of any series. Today there is Australia,
then, two weeks later, New Zealand.
Based on international rankings, England should arrive at the All Blacks game
unbeaten. It should not be seen as chest-beating patriotism to say this.
England are the third-best side in the world and need to start acting as if
they buy into it – especially as this Wallabies side is getting better. It
is not the team that we saw Jonny Sexton and Jamie Roberts pull apart for
the Lions.
We always know that the Aussies will not stay down long and the last two
results have seen a huge shift in performance, confidence and style. They
battered Argentina away. It was a 50-point job. Then they went to Dunedin
two weeks ago and took New Zealand to the wire.
In terms of players, they are finding the ones who they can build on. Israel
Folau is ridiculous, quite ridiculous, with levels of athleticism, balance
and pace that are off the charts. His game management and understanding have
improved Test on Test as he has settled in the full-back role and he is now
lethal.
Ewen McKenzie has got his Queensland boys at numbers nine and 10 and they are
starting to gel. Will Genia is magnificent, a modern-day artful dodger, in
and out at rucks, reminding everyone that you cannot catch what you cannot
see. Quade Cooper is delivering and starting to find his killer passes. On
top of this, his goal-kicking was excellent in New Zealand.
Tevita Kuridrani has one line about him on Wikipedia, but that will not stay
the case for very long. He is carving up the international midfield. With so
much talent, how the heck have the Wallabies been so bad for so long?
The scrum has been their weakness, but even here there are signs of recovery.
Penalties were conceded in Argentina and New Zealand but there was no
decimation. Australia also managed to keep their error count lower, so
presented fewer opportunities for scrums, and played with a pace of game so
high that the game plan looks to be to use their mobile front row around the
park and exhaust their opposition props and hookers.
And the big lads can also play. Stephen Moore could have been a centre, he is
such an outstanding rugby footballer. The lumps in the second row put in
hard shifts, with power in the shape of Sitaleki Timani. Ben Mowen has been
developing and dominating in the back row and is a top line-out operator.
Michael Hooper is a leech of a seven and, balanced by a dog of a six in
Scott Fardy, his tackle count is high.
What is important for the Wallabies is that they are putting the spine of a
team together that looks as if it can run on unchanged. The names are
rolling off the tongue and have weight to them as well as that wow factor.
England need to start finding theirs. At the moment, there is still some
confusion over who and what their best team might be. From the Australia
game last year, only one of the backs is starting — Chris Ashton. Manu
Tuilagi is out because of injury, so let us be fair and say that there would
have been two.
In the forwards, if fit, there would have been only four: Chris Robshaw, Geoff
Parling, Dan Cole and Tom Youngs. Players need to start putting in the
performances that mean their names are seen as the first ones written on the
teamsheet. Without that, England could easily lose today, and you do not
want defeats that linger all the way to 2015.
Article source: http://www.scotsman.com/news/scotland/top-stories/scotland-rugby-players-investigated-over-assault-1-3169317
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