Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

'Don't believe that for a second': England dismiss attack allegation

(Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

New England attack coach Martin Gleeson has dismissed claims that the team is low on confidence due to its blunt attack in this year’s Guinness Six Nations. Leaving aside the annual win over whipping boys Italy, Eddie Jones’ side has scored just two tries in 240 minutes against Scotland, Wales and Ireland. 

ADVERTISEMENT

It’s a meagre strike rate that has left them vulnerable to another low-table championship finish unless they can somehow come up with the goods against the odds away to the Grand Slam-chasing France on Saturday night.  

Having emerged from the Autumn Nations Series with England unbeaten on the back of scoring five tries in their matches versus Australia and South Africa following an eleven-try rout of Tonga, there was great expectation that the Gleeson-coached attack would push on in the Six Nations but that growth hasn’t materialised in terms of scoring power and results. 

Video Spacer

Le Crunch Time | The French Rugby Podcast

It’s crunch time for Fabien Galthie’s men as they prepare to face England with a title and Grand Slam on the line in Paris and we analyse all the tactical, personnel and mental battles. Former England international and Toulon and Lyon full back Delon Armitage joins us to give us his insight, as well as to share a few stories on the likes of Bernard Laporte and Mourad Boudjellal from his Champions Cup winning days, and we pick our MEATER Moment of the Week…
Use the code FRENCHPOD10 at checkout for 10% off any full price item at Meater.com

Video Spacer

Le Crunch Time | The French Rugby Podcast

It’s crunch time for Fabien Galthie’s men as they prepare to face England with a title and Grand Slam on the line in Paris and we analyse all the tactical, personnel and mental battles. Former England international and Toulon and Lyon full back Delon Armitage joins us to give us his insight, as well as to share a few stories on the likes of Bernard Laporte and Mourad Boudjellal from his Champions Cup winning days, and we pick our MEATER Moment of the Week…
Use the code FRENCHPOD10 at checkout for 10% off any full price item at Meater.com

Ireland (20), France (14) and Scotland (10) have delivered more tries than the England tally of just seven and only 88 points have been scored across their four matches, including against Italy. It’s not the sort of convincing improvement that was hoped for after England scored an equal fourth-best twelve tries in the 2021 Six Nations and managed only 112 points, a return that equated to a fifth-place finish and the exit of Simor Amor as attack coach.  

The recent weeks have resulted in criticism of the effectiveness of the England attack under Gleeson, but the ex-rugby league coach insisted this has had no impact on him and that the players aren’t suffering from a lack of confidence. “I don’t read much press anyway but that comes with the territory, it doesn’t bother me one bit,” he said on Friday from Paris. 

Related

“No, I don’t believe that for a second, I don’t think there is a lack of confidence in the group. We have obviously not attacked as well as we would like at times in games and a few things have gone certain ways, but they are a confident group and we want to attack Saturday night. There is no lack of confidence within the group.”

What is certain is that it has been a steep learning curve for Gleeson, who was recruited by Jones last summer as the new England attack coach after just a couple of seasons in the union game at Wasps. 

ADVERTISEMENT

“The competition is unbelievably fierce and tight and the fan fervour generated around each game I have not experienced anything like it before,” he admitted about the Six Nations. “It was a big step-up from the autumn but it’s enjoyable. The lads have all been great and it’s been a really good experience. I have enjoyed it.

“It’s just being as efficient as you can,” he added about the pressures of coaching in the championship. “You can’t do everything in the time period you have got with the players. You have just got to build parts of our game together slowly so it’s just having that, finding out what is the biggest thing that we need at certain times and layering things on.”

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

M
Mzilikazi 2 hours ago
Western Force and ACT Brumbies looking for signs of progress in Super Rugby Pacific

It’s good to be at the start of the season, to be tipping the games again. Thanks for the article Brett. An interesting and, for me, informative read, as I have not kept up with all the news of all the teams, really only Qld.


Whatever happens in the search for a new coach for the WB’s, all of Les Kiss, Stephen Larkham and Dan McKellar will be coaching their respective teams this year. I believe Kiss to be the best of the three, and by a significant margin(the bad result against the Chiefs in the playoffs last season the one scar), and that gives Qld., in my view, an extra edge.


I agree, Brett, that Qld. on paper, and on squad strength and experience, look the best bet for Australia. If Tim Ryan builds on last year, he could be a WB starter against the Lions. The locking strength and depth is approaching that of teams like Leinster, Toulouse etc…not as strong ofc, but in Super Rugby circles, yes.


I like the type of game Kiss is building. Really carrying on from where he was rudely interrupted at London Irish, when they fell over. The one game on tour where they beat Ulster was a significant pointer to where they are at. While not a top Ulster unit, it was still a very good team, not easy to beat in Belfast. Sadly the Bristol game was a training run, but still valuable in a way, as the group were touring, building systems and understanding.


One player I will be watching with interest is Finn Hurley at the Highlanders. He was brought to my attention a year ago by the grandson of a friend, who knew him at Otago Boys High in Dunedin. Small, but resilient, with a good boot, from what I have seen on clips, he should have a useful first full year as a Highlander.


Hope the Force do well… have always had a “soft spot” for them. But good luck to all franchises, and pray for no serious injuries….as I have done forever, as aplayer, then coach, and now long retired rugby fanatic 😀

2 Go to comments
J
Jfp123 4 hours ago
New twist sees Romain Ntamack's Six Nations ban extended

I’m still not convinced. I think everyone should be punished equally for similar actions, rather than differentiating punishment on the basis of speculative psychological analysis. I still think accusations are based more on the mindset of the accuser than the accused. As mentioned, I can’t possibly say why Ntamack committed foul play and you may be right, but that’s not the only possible explanation. Have you never lost concentration when work’s a walkover and your best efforts aren’t needed. We know very little about Ntamack, perhaps major upheavals off the pitch were on his mind, eg maybe worried about the baby. Or how about turning your speculation in the opposite direction? Some pundits mentioned there were afters to the tackle, which presumably indicate the Welsh player had lost his temper. Were those afters delivered silently, or were they accompanied by words? Could he have said something insulting about Ntamack’s mixed heritage, or family, or something else that lit the blue touch paper? I don’t suppose he was complimenting him on his hair! No provocation justifies dangerous play, whether an HIA examination is required or not, and Ntamack deserved his red card and punishment. But if this is what happened, would you call both players’ losses of temper ‘malicious’? After all, Ntamack has taken thousands of big hits over his career without retaliating. The foul was out of character, so should it be explained away by afters to the tackle that were malicious? No one landed a punch, but are all punches malicious, whatever the provocation? Now both this scenario and yours take actions which actually happened, and then progress to pure speculation about the unknown. There are other possibilities too. I’m certainly not saying any of the possibilities discussed are what happened and I don’t presume to know what the players were thinking at the time. If you want to make a case for punishing all players who get a red card, in a similar way with similar outcomes, for longer, that would be fair enough. But I don’t think it’s fair to call for special punishment for a particular player based on speculation.

7 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ Western Force and ACT Brumbies looking for signs of progress in Super Rugby Pacific Western Force and ACT Brumbies looking for signs of progress in Super Rugby Pacific
Search