England excel, France fail in autumn tests – Andy Goode
It’s report time as the autumn internationals draw to a close and, while Scotland’s star is on the rise, England and Ireland remain top of the class with Wales having much work to do and France left with the dunce’s cap on.
The Northern Hemisphere nation that’s had the best autumn is England results-wise but for performances in relation to expectation you have to say that Scotland have impressed everyone.
England would have expected to beat Samoa convincingly, they were fairly comfortable against Argentina as well and they got their biggest ever victory over Australia in the biggest game of the month for them.
However, despite getting a couple of big wins and a scrappy one over the Pumas, the performance levels were nowhere near where the second best team in the world would expect them to be.
Scotland, on the other hand, were poor against Samoa but still won and then put in two really impressive performances against New Zealand and Australia and they’ll be delighted with their autumn, especially given the number of injuries they had.
Australia were ahead when Sekope Kepu was sent off on Saturday and the red card did change the game but I think Scotland would have probably still won and it just made the margin of victory significantly wider.
There is a real buzz around the Scotland camp at the moment and they will be contenders come the Six Nations, along with Ireland and England.
The Calcutta Cup match in Edinburgh at the end of February is going to be huge. The Scots will be talking it up between now and then and will understandably be confident of beating the Auld Enemy for the first time for a decade and only the fourth time since 1991.
Ireland had a decent autumn but their big win was at the start with a record victory over South Africa. They tried some new faces and scraped through against Fiji the next week and then it was a mixed performance against Argentina but they’ve got three wins and will be happy with where they’re at.
Results are always important but seeing how much depth countries have has been fascinating and the emergence of some new stars has been the highlight of the past month.
Sam Simmonds wasn’t anywhere near the England team a few weeks ago and Eddie Jones said he wasn’t big enough to play number eight and now he’s carrying 18 times and making 96 metres in a Test match.
His clubmate Henry Slade has had a couple of good games as well and Alex Lozowski looks like he’s proved that he could be the back up at inside centre if Owen Farrell is injured.
Huw Jones was the standout player for Scotland and gives them a different threat every time he touches the ball and Darryl Marfo is the story of the month without a doubt.
He didn’t have a club after leaving London Welsh last season, went to Edinburgh as fifth choice loosehead behind Michele Rizzo and now he’s starting against the All Blacks and Wallabies and holding his own.
But Jacob Stockdale has to be at the top of that list of emerging stars of the autumn and that’ll be one of the main reasons Joe Schmidt will be looking so cheerful after his November.
It’s been an autumn of transition for everyone, with no side picking their best team in all three games, and there have been a lot of positives but some pretty glaring negatives as well.
The team for me that all the question marks remain over is Wales. I’m just not sure what they’re doing and how they’re going to move forwards. You can see progression in all of the other home nations but not with them.
They did go toe to toe with the All Blacks for just under an hour and there have been some good facets to their game but they haven’t been able to find that extra 15 or 20 per cent to stay in the fight for the full 80 minutes.
I think they made a mistake taking Scott Williams off at the weekend and he wasn’t even in the squad at the start of the month. Owen Williams has made an encouraging start as the second playmaker but they moved him to number 13 on Saturday and he can’t play there.
Wales are changing the way they play and that will take time but it hasn’t been the best few weeks for them so far and they really need to beat South Africa this weekend to put a positive spin on things and start building some momentum heading into the Six Nations.
They’ve got quality players and are an attacking threat but need to work on their style if they’re moving away from ‘Warrenball’ and gain some confidence quickly.
But there’s a chance they could revert to type a bit when the Six Nations comes around because it’s about winning games at the end of the day and they are definitely the home nation with the most question marks hanging over them at the moment.
Their problems pale into insignificance when you compare them with France though. They have to get rid of Guy Noves. He did nothing at Toulouse in his last few years there, it went very stale and he is well past his sell by date.
Some of the individuals in the French squad are top class but I’ve played in France and there is often not a lot of structure to what they do or coaching involved.
There is a ‘jouer, jouer’ attitude and a lot of reliance on individual flair and brilliance. There is more to international rugby than that. Defences are so well-organised nowadays and you have to manipulate them with decoy runs and two or three phase plays.
I know a couple of players in the French team at present and they just don’t have that detail.
They’ve had a dreadful autumn of results, losing to New Zealand twice and South Africa and then drawing with Japan at the weekend.
They should have lost that game as well because Japan missed a relatively simple conversion to win it and it was only a few weeks ago that they were getting absolutely spanked at home by the Aussies, so that puts into perspective where France are.
Club rugby is changing a bit over there because owners are seeing the benefit of having outside influences with the likes of Vern Cotter at Montpellier and others have done well before him but French rugby does remain very blinkered.
I think for them to move forwards they need to not be as narrow-minded in terms of how they think about the game, look further afield and put a foreigner in charge of the national team.
A lot can happen in the next couple of months but on the evidence we’ve seen it looks like England, Ireland and Scotland will be battling it out at the top end of the Six Nations table, with Wales and France scrapping with Italy to avoid the wooden spoon.
Comments on RugbyPass
smith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
36 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
9 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
36 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
2 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
36 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
49 Go to commentsNot too bad. Questions at 6, lock and HB for me. The ABs will be a lot stronger once Jordan and Roigard return. Also, work needs to be made to secure Frizzell back for next season and maybe also Mo’unga; they’re just wasting time playing in japan
36 Go to commentsOn the title, i wonder for many of those people it is a case something like a belief in working smarter, not harder?
1 Go to commentsForget Sotutu. One of those whose top level is Super Rugby. Id take a punt on Wallace Sititi Finau ahead of Glass body Blackadder.
36 Go to commentsI’m a pensioner so I've been around a bit. My opinion of SBW is he is an elite athlete and a great New Zealander and roll model. He has been to the top and knows what he's talking about. To all the negative comments regarding SBW the typical New Zealand way, cut that tall poppy down.
17 Go to commentsI'm not listening to a guy moralise over others when this is the guy who walked out mid season on Canterbury RLFC when he had a contract with them, what a hypocrite. All the Kiwis sticking up for this unprincipled individual because they can't accept justified criticism, he has zero credibility or integrity. Those praising him are a joke.
17 Go to commentsI’d put Finau at 6 instead of Blackadder but that’s the only change I’d make. Can’t wait to see who Razor picks.
36 Go to commentsTamati Williams, Codie Taylor, and Same Cane? Not sure about Hoskins Sotutu at test level. Wasn’t that impressive last season. Need a balance between experience and talent/youth.
36 Go to commentsInteresting insight. Fantastic athlete, and a genuine human being.
17 Go to commentsThey played at night in Suva last weekend and it’s an afternoon game forecast for 19 degrees in Canberra this weekend. Heat change is a non issue.
2 Go to commentsWishing Rosie a speedy recovery
1 Go to commentsObscene that SA haven’t been knocking
1 Go to commentsChances of Blackadder being injured seem too high to give him serious consideration. ABs loosie combination finally looked good with 2 committed to tackling and clearing rucks in the centre and Ardie roaming. Hoskins/Ardie together would force one of them into where they don’t excel and don’t get to use their talent, or require a change in tactics. If we continue to evolve last years systems I would take Papali’i and Finau at 6 and 7 (conceding that Blackadder will be injured) and Ardie at 8.
36 Go to comments