 England came off the Twickenham turf having responded resoundingly to adversity. Faced with being down to 12 men and their captain sent off on Saturday, they reacted by scoring via a driving maul and reining back Wales' two-score advantage. Written down it sounds impressive, that there was a huge examination from a strong Wales side and the England players stood up to what was a test of character and ability. However, that is just not the case. For the majority of the game the Twickenham crowd was quiet and the players on the surface trundled along showing very little in terms of game plan and creativity. It was without doubt another tough, dogged display from England, but in terms of spark and performance level Steve Borthwick's men looked bereft of imagination. It was not until George Ford came onto the field that a rudderless England side seemed to bounce back into existence. That is not to say England did not show glimpses of what they are capable of but they were too often snuffed out by Wales or by their own inaccuracy. The frustration is England have the quality, they have the players, the off-field set-up and some of the brightest minds in English coaching, but it is not translating to the field at the moment. The key example was the final two minutes of the game when, having pulled themselves out of the hole they had dug, there was no direction, and certainly no clear thinking. All teams work on closing the game out, especially as the World cup looms. When games become tight and nerves jangle, players need to know how to act, what the plan is and the system of how to take away hope from the opposition. But as the clock wound down on Saturday, England looked lost, as pass after pass was thrown out of rucks to unexpecting receivers, it was an insight into where this side currently is. The new coaching team have had precious little time with this group in comparison){kind=link}
NEWS… BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
England came off the Twickenham turf having responded resoundingly to adversity. Faced with being down to 12 men and their captain sent off on Saturday, they reacted by scoring via a driving maul and reining back Wales’ two-score advantage.
Written down it sounds impressive, that there was a huge examination from a strong Wales side and the England players stood up to what was a test of character and ability.
However, that is just not the case. For the majority of the game the Twickenham crowd was quiet and the players on the surface trundled along showing very little in terms of game plan and creativity.
It was without doubt another tough, dogged display from England, but in terms of spark and performance level Steve Borthwick’s men looked bereft of imagination.