Time to take stock. New Zealand, South Africa, Fiji, Japan – all but Australia – have gone home, the Rugby World Cup website tells us there are 657 days to kick-off, even what we’ll have to pay, and with around 20 Tests left for most teams, now is when the focus really turns to England 2015. The time for major fiddling is over.
In the northern hemisphere, coaches who go into the Six Nations without a pretty good idea of their best lineup will be chasing the game.
So, with 22 months to go this is how the world ranks the top six nations …
No1: New Zealand
They’ve done what no other side have done before; won a World Cup and remained No1. It’s not just the 14 wins in 2013, more the new names Steve Hansen has added. Charles Piutau, Charlie Faumuina, Brodie Retallick, Dane Coles, Wyatt Crocket, Aaron Cruden, Ryan Crotty have all become Test animals and there are plenty more waiting on the sidelines.
Hansen’s job is to keep the fires stoked and to manage the careers of those figures he clearly believes to be necessary for success, 32-year-old Richie McCaw, 31-year-old Dan Carter, 32-year-old Conrad Smith. On the down side, something has to be done about the scrum; particularly the front row where age is clearly catching up or the new regulations have revealed flaws.
No2: South Africa
The most improved side of the past year. If they failed to topple the All Blacks, there were still 10 wins from 12 games and Heyneke Meyer has returned Springbok rugby to its muscular roots. They have finishers out wide and from the back, but the emphasis is on the pack and a midfield who rack up the points from the possession those big men earn. Before the final game, the 19-10 win in Paris, Meyer could be heard preaching the code of discipline. Keep that, he said, and the Boks would be fine.
No3: Australia
Discipline again and Ewen McKenzie’s decision to ban six high-profile players for their boozy night out in Dublin was so important in addressing a culture which had crept into Wallaby rugby, whereby key characters were allowed to get away with ill discipline just to keep them onside. McKenzie has reversed the argument, telling players such as James O’Connor, Kurtley Beale and Quade Cooper that if they want to be a Wallaby, they have to conform.
All that remains is the pack. If McKenzie can put together an eight who can win a fair share of possession, he has backs to beat anyone. Remember Queensland? The Reds weren’t much before McKenzie; he left them as Super Rugby champions.
No4: England
Time to end the what-might-have-been game and concentrate on what we’ve got. We haven’t got the characters to play like the All Blacks but then again we have a world-class pack , who are still young and should only improve.
The Joe Launchbury-Courtney Lawes second-row partnership has been a huge bonus, proving England don’t have to play Geoff Parling, and while the back row of Chris Robshaw, Tom Wood and Billy Vunipola isn’t the conventional balance, it works. And works very hard.
Outside the scrum, I wouldn’t say Billy Twelvetrees is the answer to the ongoing questions about inside-centre but he does have the skills and attributes to be the answer, even if it’s not of the all-singing, all-dancing variety.
Marland Yarde’s injury robbed Stuart Lancaster of the chance to settle one problem area but it might be better if the coach, as well as some of the commentators, were less vocal about aspirations for an England side circa 2000-2001 and settled for the 2003 version.
No5: Wales
We’ll know more on Saturday when Australia complete the Welsh year but Warren Gatland would be a happy man if he could only keep his favoured match-day squad fit. Together, they are a handful for anyone; physical, direct and yet with enough imagination to unlock the tightest defences.
Gatland’s problem is that he’s losing day-to-day control of too many prized assets as the game drain continues. The French don’t just pay shedloads of money, they demand plenty of effort for it and are not always the best at RR or managing injury, particularly when there’s a big Top 14 game coming up.
Of Jonathan Davies, Jamie Roberts, James Hook, Dan Lydiate and Luke Charteris, who will still be in one piece by September 2015? And will the situation worsen with uncertainly over European club rugby?
No6: France
I wish I knew. After their worst Six Nations, a morale-shattering tour to New Zealand and the mixed fortunes of autumn, most coaches would be wondering how long they had left. But the French federation says it has faith in Philippe Saint-André and, if his employers are in it for the long haul, there are signs that the coach’s turbulent two years might finally be coming to an end.
For a start, they took New Zealand the distance and got within seven points, which only Ireland otherwise managed, and in Rémi Talès, Saint-André seems to have a fly-half he can trust. I also like the look of the full-back Brice Dulin.
Article source: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/11/26/rugby-ireland-best-idUKL4N0JB2OG20131126
Rugby Union World Cup 2015 – taking stock of the top six teams
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