Blood & Mud

What is the common thread in the England rugby team's crapness?

The years since 2003 have not exactly been a picnic for England fans; or if it has been a picnic it is one at which it consistently drizzles, the sandwiches are all chicken paste and the occasional wild animal turns up to savage you and your kids. There have been some sunny intervals of course - World Cup final in 2007, and some recognisable improvement in this year's Six Nations - but all in all, this period has been a pride-swallowing siege for all who follow the red rose. 

The years immediately after 2003 saw of a number of pivotal persons retiring or suffering long-term injuries, plus the loss of Clive Woodward. Since 2006 there has been no such ready-made excuse. 
 
Leaving aside RWC 07, when every other team played into England’s hands by allowing a slow, forwards and kick dominated strategy to dominate the tournament, in the last three years England have consistently failed in the part of the game that matters most: securing decent possession, particularly at ruck.

The reasons for this are many: lack of penetrating runs, poor rucking technique, lack of ideas around the fringe, the endless pick-and-gos; I could go on. Securing ball, even in this modern era is still primarily the job of the forwards, something they have signally failed to do in three years. Who is to blame for this is very simple in my eyes; it’s the bloke responsible for England’s forwards since 2006 – John Wells.

If you accept that this is the case - and I’d be interested to hear any arguments in support of him as I can’t think of any - then it begs the additional question of why he is still in the job.  

Up until this year you could put his survival down to the turmoil raging around him, with the turnover of head coaches happening at such a rate that the powers that be felt stability in the second coaching layer was probably sensible. However, since Johnson was appointed as the long-term coach last year then this argument looks increasingly shaky. Given that, with the possible exception of Scotland, England’s forwards look the worst in Europe most of the time and last Saturday against the Wallabies was yet another game to add to the litany of soul-splintering failures of recent times, you have to ask what it would take for him to lose his job?

I have no desire to see people sacked when there is a long-term strategy that they are part of. But, if a man who has presided over not a single iota of consistent improvement in three years is part of your long-term plan then surely your plan is a SHIT one? Only Martin Johnson knows the answer to that and we can only hope that he is considering his forwards coaching options very carefully, otherwise it's more chicken paste and drizzle in the run up to the next World Cup.

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Comments

What is the common thread in the England rugby team's crapness?

The years since 2003 have not exactly been a picnic for England fans; or if it has been a picnic it is one at which it consistently drizzles, the sandwiches are all chicken paste and the occasional wild animal turns up to savage you and your kids. There have been some sunny intervals of course - World Cup final in 2007, and some recognisable improvement in this year's Six Nations - but all in all, this period has been a pride-swallowing siege for all who follow the red rose. 

The years immediately after 2003 saw of a number of pivotal persons retiring or suffering long-term injuries, plus the loss of Clive Woodward. Since 2006 there has been no such ready-made excuse. 
 
Leaving aside RWC 07, when every other team played into England’s hands by allowing a slow, forwards and kick dominated strategy to dominate the tournament, in the last three years England have consistently failed in the part of the game that matters most: securing decent possession, particularly at ruck.