Twickenham was absolutely rocking on Sunday, as bitter rivals England and Wales clashed, and the result may well have seen a passing of the torch in Northern Hemisphere rugby.
Warren Gatland’s blend of power rugby, or ‘Warren Ball’ as it’s known in certain quarters, has dominated European rugby for most of the last five years or so, but on Sunday a young, energetic and ambitious England team thoroughly put them in their place. Looking to move the ball out of and away from contact as quickly as possible, England is beginning to develop a game that, although still a work in progress, is looking more dangerous by the week.
Whether it is enough to win this years 6 Nations Championship will depend on combining victory in Rome with an Irish defeat in Paris, but regardless of taking the overall spoils, it is likely that England will complete the campaign the most satisfied of the teams.
Ireland will be the likely Championship winners, and Joe Schmidt has done an excellent job, but Brian O’Driscoll is gone after this weekend and other major players including Paul O’Connell, Gordon Darcy and Rory Best are approaching the end of their international careers.
England on the other hand have a number of key players to return to the squad, which means that Stuart Lancaster will have the luxury of competition in virtually every position in the starting team. Alex Corbisiero and Dan Cole will be a massive boost to the front row and fellow Lion Geoff Parling faces the daunting task of trying to win his place back in the second row from two of the players of the tournament so far, Courtney Lawes and Joe Launchbury. Billy Vunipola will return soon and don’t forget about Tom Croft. In the backs, Manu Tuilagi is fit now but faces a huge battle to displace Billy Twelvetrees or Luther Burrell and Marlon Yarde and Christian Wade give the back 3 some real competition. That’s a fairly impressive treatment room and Lancaster faces some difficult but ultimately pleasant choices.
The question for Lancaster is does he stick or twist? How many of those players mentioned will come back into the side when fit? Does he reward the development of the players who have gone so well this championship, or will he bring back the big guns like Tuilagi and Corbisiero? I think he will look to mix and match a little, particularly on the summer tour to New Zealand, and come the Autumn internationals and ultimately next years 6 Nations, he will know, injuries permitting, what his best side is and give them the whole of 2015 to play together before the World Cup. And then of course there’s Sam Burgess, but that’s for another day!
On Sunday, England looked sharper of body and mind than Wales, who appeared strangely lethargic and out of sorts. The counter to that is that they simply weren’t allowed any breathing room, as the England defence swarmed and tackled everything that moved in a red jersey, often forcing Wales to kick. That’s not necessarily a disaster, but Wales’s kicking game was generally very poor, allowing Mike Brown and co. the chance to either counter strongly or return their kicks with interest.
When Wales did try and play with ball in hand they often looked dangerous, but some poor options and decision making, aligned to some impressive England defence meant that they had to rely on the incredible boot of Leigh Halfpenny for their points.
England continued to develop their two lines of attack structure, varying the hit-ups with passes behind the big runners, allowing the ball to be moved wide. The quality of some of the passes and some final decision making wasn’t perfect by any means but the purpose and creative intent was admirable.
Second rows Lawes and Launchbury are developing into a world class combination, combining solid set pieces with incredible work rate, defence and strong ball carrying, allowing the England back row to roam free. Despite giving away some needless penalties, Dylan Hartley is still playing the best rugby of his career, and the England pack are a real collective force at the moment, allowing half backs Care and Farrell to blossom. Care took his cheeky try well but should never have been allowed to tap by Wales. A yellow card to slow it down and 3 points would have been a better option for Wales. Instead, Care was allowed to go and his try got England and the crowd going and Wales were sunk. Were it not for the majestic kicking of Halfpenny who kicked at least 3 penalties that very few kickers would have made, this game would have been over before half time.
As it was, Wales were only 5 adrift at half time and right in the game, having not played anything close to their potential. To England’s credit, they didn’t panic and continued in the same vain as the first half, and although there weren’t many clear cut chances, the equally impressive boot of Farrell meant Wales were kept at arms length.
The future looks bright for the red rose, with a growing squad, a coaching staff that appears to have really clicked with the players and a nation that is cautiously beginning to believe that something special could be on the horizon.
Written By: Tony Wheat, former player and Director of Rugby, Longton RUFC
Follow Tony: Twitter @TonyJWheatÂ
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Article source: http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Sport/Cambridge-Shelford/Hooley-prepared-to-play-Northampton-Saints-waiting-game-20130806091117.htm
Six Nations Rugby: Super England now the real deal
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