Lacklustre England Firing Blanks

I’ve had enough!!!

I always defend the English rugby team to those who love to have a pop at the boys, without realising the hard work, commitment and effort that comes with being a top rugby player competing on the world stage, but sometimes there comes a point where you have to speak your mind!

First up, commitment, while players like Moody and Wilkinson never seem to be short of enthusiasm and a bit of Mad Dog, you have to look at the England pack and say, while they may have fired at times, there is simply not the same amount of aggression around the contact area around the contact area, why is this?

Look at how the Aussies, Saffers and Kiwis, clear out players at the ruck, and hit it at pace with real dynamicism, and then watch England's forwards who seem to find it hard to ever win any quick decent ball.

Is it simply because the Aussies want it more? I've met the England team and trained with them , they are all top boys, and no one trains harder, so why is that we just seem to lack that, for want of a better word, bit of craziness that you need in rugby?

Secondly, our backs, now i know Johnson has probably got a very good, complicated game plan but honestly, I go so fed up with the boys on Saturday taking static ball, and not seemingly having a clue what to do with it……..it wasn’t just every now and again, but phase after phase.

Now while everyone is blaming the coaching setup, and maybe with some justification after we only just held on to beat the Argentineans at Twickers, I cant help but think the players have to shoulder some of the blame.

Yes they seem to be confused, but if that's the case, why isn't someone in the backs taking control, and just saying sod all of these moves and “Heads up Rugby”, why don't we just run hard, aggressive lines and take them on properly? I genuinely have seen better use of the ball in the backs at school rugby, where even the under 16’s I watched the other day were running two lines of attack at once, with players of the shoulder of each other.

It worries me, because on Saturday I didn't see a lot of guys (Moody, Wilkinson, and a few others accepted) try and win the game, more like they were just trying to make sure they didn't mess up.

I have talked about this in length before, and about the sports psychology theory of the “Need to Achieve” versus the “Need to avoid failure”, but this is starting to creep into the English rugby setup, and its never a good thing!

Maybe I'm looking at the game too simply, but I think the players need to take a long hard look at themselves, and start putting their hands up and admitting that maybe the fault lies with them.

I have never seen backs take the ball so static before, which amazes me as the first thing you learn when you start rugby at about 4 years old is that you always are looking to receive the ball at pace, as it makes getting over the gain line that much easier, and also makes you that much harder to stop. Oh and don’t get me started on Monye……if he pulls on an England shirt again it will be a disgrace, he couldn't catch, his tackling was atrocious, and he looked about as dangerous with ball in hand as a hamster…….and not a hamster who has rabies…….just your normal commonal garden every day hamster that lives in a cage. Will any player ever fear Monye on the world scene after that? No they will target him.

Thank God for Ireland!!!! Honestly there game against the Aussies was immense, there was belief, passion (P’OC and Ferris…….immense) and there was skill, and more importantly they did the basics well. Rugby really is a basic game, tackle like your life depends on it, run good hard lines and pass backwards…….simples!

They really rocked the Aussies, who didn't play badly at all, and it was great to see two sides going at each other like that. O’Driscolls try at the end was a great example of how if you run good lines with flat ball on the gain line you can cut defences to pieces. I also thought their whole performance was up a notch on England’s against the Aussies last week, and it was an amazing game to watch!

It’s sad, that I genuinely was 10 times more passionate about the Irish performance at the weekend, than I was about watching the England game, but unfortunately the way this England team is setup, well its not fun to watch anymore.

So what can they do? Well personally, i would sit the boys down this week, before the hardest test of them all against NZ at the weekend, and ask them to start putting there hands up. Not just in defence, in attack as well, have the guts to call moves, to try something, but don't forget the basics for crying out loud. If its slow ball, then try and get go forward ball from your tight five around the fringes, don't just chuck it to the backs. At the moment it just looks as though they are lost and confused out there, and so maybe things are being over complicated?

Backs, have runners of shoulder, and don’t just be in one big straight line, there is nothing on earth easier to defend, and if they cant get themselves properly up for an international match psychologically, they maybe they should try drinking some diesel and eating a cigar before the game (I remember “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan doing that in the awesome Stallone arm wrestling movie (I use awesome loosely) Over The Top to get himself psyched up).

While rugby is game that more and more needs to be played with the head, because of the sheer physicality of it, and the sheer nature of the game, we mustn't forget to keep playing with our hearts too.

Phew Rant over, and yeah, this week I am mostly riding motorbikes in the wet, DJ’ing at Gatecrasher in Birmingham on Saturday night, and getting back in the gym for some hardcore training!! I might not be able to play rugby anymore due to my damaged neck, but i can still pretend…….oh and there is always cricket!!!

Anyway, I truly hope England can come out on Saturday and play some better rugby, even if they lose, I wont mind if they play with some of that soul that was evident at the 2007 World Cup, and then hopefully, once they are doing the basics well again, then they can push on and the more complex moves should click too!!

I will leave you with my favourite image from the weekend, after Manny Pacquiao had beaten Miguel Cotto at the weekend with a thrilling 12th round stoppage to become a five weight, five time World Champion, and to surely become the greatest pound for pound fighter i have ever seen, if not the world!!

Go Pac Man!!!