England vs Wales: Keys to Victory
England vs Wales.
A Grand Slam decider at Twickenham this Saturday?
The Irish will certainly have something to say about that, but it has undoubtedly taken on an extra edge – as if it needed one – following Wales’ performance against Scotland in the opening round of the tournament.
Warren Gatland’s side surpassed all expectations in their dismantling of Scotland and whilst the poor nature of Scotland’s performance certainly contributed heavily to that, Wales played with an efficiency that very few could have foreseen, especially in the first game of the championship.
England duly delivered out in Rome and whilst far from the finished article, they can also be pleased with how fluent they looked for an opening fixture and now the two sides prepare to meet at Twickenham, where they will both face more formidable opposition than they encountered a week previous.
We take a look at the three key areas where the game will be won and lost in TW2 this weekend.
Set-piece stalemate?
Coming into the tournament, you wouldn’t have found too many people who would have disagreed with the assertion that, in this contest, England would have a slight edge at the lineout and Wales would have a slight edge at the scrum.
Both teams delivered in their respective areas of strength last weekend, but what was also notable was how effective the English scrum looked and how smoothly the Welsh lineout ran.
Forget the whingeing about Dylan Hartley’s continued selection, as of the four tries that were scored by England whilst he was on the field in Rome, three stemmed directly from set-pieces. The England captain nailed his jumpers on all 11 of his lineout throws and the stability of the set-piece was a great launching pad for England’s back line, who had plenty of joy with strike moves on Sunday.
As for Wales, the all-Scarlets front-row of Rob Evans, Ken Owens and Samson Lee shone, as did venerable lock Alun Wyn Jones, admittedly against a Scotland tight five shorn of multiple starters and back-ups. Wales delivered a success rate of 95% on their 21 set-pieces, whilst England produced the same success rate on their 20 set-pieces.
It seems evenly balanced going into this contest and may well come down to whether Evans and Lee can rattle their opposite numbers at scrum time or Maro Itoje and Courtney Lawes can pressure the Welsh lineout in a way that Scotland were unable to.
Both scenarios are certainly possible.
Midfield counter-punching
Away from the set-piece, another area where both teams prospered last week was in the play of their midfields.
George Ford and Owen Farrell seemed to enjoy the presence of Ben Te’o in their midst, buzzing around and playing off of him as if he were an extra back-row, and you frequently saw Te’o move inside to the 12 berth and Farrell float wider, ready to link play with the wings if there was an opportunity to go wide quickly and exploit an overlap.
Jonathan Joseph has replaced Te’o in the England XV for the match at Twickenham, so expect to see something a little more conventional from England this week, with Farrell staying closer to Ford and operating in a regular 10-12 axis.
For Wales, Scott Williams excelled in his new role at outside centre and showed none of the hesitation that players in that position can show with their defensive reads and decision-making. Rhys Patchell looked as comfortable at 10 as he does for the Scarlets and Hadleigh Parkes mixed his game up well in an area of the pitch that saw him confined tighter than he usually is at regional level.
Where the Welsh midfield might have looked to hurt England was with the tempo they could have played at and how quickly they could get wide, with England’s defence notably narrower with Te’o at 13 than it is with Joseph. It is not a criticism of Te’o’s defence, who blitzed out of the line on three occasions against Italy, making successful one-on-one tackles all three times, but he doesn’t have the lateral quickness that Joseph does, and it is one way teams could look to expose him.
With Joseph now back in the XV, there are going to be fewer opportunities for Wales to get wide and around the English defence. One way they could look to deal with this is to involve Leigh Halfpenny as much as possible in the midfield, running lines behind Parkes and Williams to try and cause as much hesitation as possible in the usually defensively solid pairing of Farrell and Joseph.
As for England, the chemistry between Ford and Farrell is a weapon in itself. Some of the interplay between the two of them in Rome was extraordinarily good and their handling, taking intricate and sharp passes at pace, was too much for Italy to deal with. If Williams turns in another excellent defensive performance on Saturday, looking to exploit the space inside of him, targeting Parkes and Patchell, could be the way to go, with the skill levels of the English playmakers enough to play accurate rugby at speed in the areas of the pitch where there is likely to be heavier traffic.
Dealing with the breakdown
The battle of the breakdown. It seems to be the longest running saga in matches between these two nations.
For a long time, Wales have had an advantage in this area and in the games where England have not had an answer for that, they have tended to lose. When England are able to take the breakdown out of the equation or at least minimise its influence on the game, whether through clinical rucking or an ability to break the gain-line at will, they have tended to win.
No Billy Vunipola or Nathan Hughes obviously influences England’s ability to break the gain-line, but at the same time, no Sam Warburton available and Justin Tipuric on the bench will give England confidence their pack can deliver a rucking effort which will be enough to keep the Welsh fetchers quiet.
Of course, it could be the vice versa of this which determines the game.
England may not have a traditional fetcher in their pack, but they do have players such as Itoje, Dan Cole and Sam Simmonds, all of whom can cause disruption and steal ball if Wales don’t do their due diligence at the contact area or break the gain-line enough to keep the English forwards backpedalling.
Whichever way it goes, all eyes will undoubtedly be on referee Jérôme Garcès and his interpretation of what is going on at the breakdown.
Comments on RugbyPass
Will be great to see the Leinster first XV back in action again after their cotton wool time…
1 Go to commentsLooked up Grant Constable on google and reply was doppelgänger for Ben Smith
41 Go to commentsIt is so good that we now all get excited and debate who is best and emotionally get involved. We all back our teams which is great. Up until about 15-20 years ago, NZ was basically on its own, and then Saffa, Aussie and sometimes French and English were there. We now have at least 5-6 really top sides and another 4 who keep improving. This is so healthy. So we should not resort to rubbish comments and unhealthy debate, but rather all be chuffed that the product we watch is not competitive, exciting and often uncertain. It would be so good if World Rugger could find a way to align the rules to professional players as well as spectators. Live rugby games are SO boring as there is SO much down time as we wait for refs and TMOs and whoever else to look at every small event going back endless phases with the hope of eventually find a minute infringement to then decide cancel what was a wonderful try. This is the ultimate cork back in the bottle moment and feels like every balloon is always being popped. Come on- we must be better with the rules.
41 Go to comments“upon leaving said establishment I tripped over a stool knocking some bottles into the air and as I fell I accidently dislodged a police officer’s teaser who was passing by on an unrelated matter there by landing on said taser which caused it to discharge 50,000 watts into me. Out of shock I shouted Ireland are going to win the world cup. Upon waking up I apologised for the distress caused by my Ireland comment. The matter is closed. If you wish to pursue this matter may I remind you what I told Wayne Barnes when he sent me off. I AM A BIG ASS MAN”. Or was it “I AM A BIG ASS, MAN” or was it “I AM A BIG ASSMAN”?
1 Go to commentsThe only championship the Boks hold are: Great value for the incompetence of referees during the RWC Moaning endlessly and champions of spewing utterly ignorant 💩 at all times. Displaying the dangers of a third world education End of.
41 Go to commentsSouth Africa and Rassie do a phenomenal job of treating the 4 years in between World Cups as nothing more than a training exercise to build squad depth. The Six Nations money that keeps Irish rugby afloat is unfortunately too important to allow the same approach, and basic population size means we'll never get close to matching the depth of South Africa, England and France. That being said, Irish rugby is in a relatively good place and slowly improving inch by inch. If the other three provinces can pull the finger out and actually develop some players it'd be even better.
41 Go to commentsGood on Clarke for taking on the criticism and addressing his deficiencies, principally his laziness.
2 Go to comments“It is the people’s favourite against the actual favourite. It is the people’s champions against the actual champions. I’m joking, but it’s going to be a fantastic series.” Why did Darcy make that joke knowing it would be used as click bait? Why did RP headline it as a serious comment? Anyway, the tired comment isn’t very astute. SA players may have played more games etc. Darcy over estimated as a pundit.
41 Go to commentsNot sure Frisch will ever make the French team with Depoortère and Costes waiting in the wings to take over from Danty and Fickou.
1 Go to commentsThe Irish are tired and the Boks are old. The test series won't confirm who is best in the world, it will confirm which team needs to pursue the task of rebuilding with the most urgency.
41 Go to commentsGrant, the first time I have seen an article written by you. Maybe I have missed your previous stuff. These days all professional players effectively play a common season so all top players are equally tired, or rested. That is the job of the coaching ticket to build squad depth and juggle resources so players are ‘ fresh’ when the big games come. Possibly Ireland are less inclined to juggle squad compared to Rassie, who is prepared to take the risk to rest players as well as build depth throughout the year so come WC he has a full squad, experienced and rested enough to win 7 games. After all, to win WC you need to get through the tournament and then win the final big 3 games. Ireland should try and build a bit so come final 3 they are ready. So far only played final 1(QF). I am so looking forward to the Irish tour. Hopefully Rassie has enough time to align his guys, as he draws them from across the globe, and not from 2 sides locally( eg Leinster, Munster). No excuses, going to be exciting.
41 Go to commentsIn football, teams get fined and sometimes docked points for deliberately fielding weakened teams yet Leinster can pretty much do as they please with no comebacks. Could it be because Ireland run the URC? Could it be that Ireland run the ERC? Whichever it is, it stinks!!
6 Go to commentsIreland are only the People’s Champions in Irish eyes. The rest of the world do not care for them very much because of attitudes of people like Gordon, Ferris, Best, Jackman…I could go on!!
41 Go to commentsNot sure how Karl Dickson can ever ref a Quins game, he played for the club for 8 years as understudy to Care and is still close friends with half the team
3 Go to commentsAre bookies taking bets on how many times Vunipola's eventual statement will use the term “elders"? My money is on at least 4 times.
4 Go to commentsSo Ireland will be tired, despite having the most rested test squad in the world. They only play tests, champions cup and urc play off games ffs! Case in point; Leinster sent a B squad to SA for their last two games while their first xv rested up and trained at their leisure for the sf vs Saints at the so called ‘neutral venue’ of Croke Park. So tired? Do me a favour… And as for “people’s champions”? Seriously??? Outside of Ireland they are respected for their ability to win 6N. And of course plenty of inconsequential test friendlies without any real pressure. WC ko games when the pressure is white hot? Not so much…
41 Go to commentsSurprising how standing down or benching a player can do wonders for their motivation. Several players this week in that category.
2 Go to commentsHaha lads lads lads, that’s how you have a holiday In Majorca
4 Go to commentshit on Lynagh was defo late and card-worthy. The other 2 are bang on OK. Hurts you at Test level if youre timing is off and the nostrils are flared. Jerry C knew when to lean in on one, Finau just needs to keep his discipline and head straight.
7 Go to commentsSlade was exceptional against Gloucester. Not only was he doing the classic Slade stuff of running amazing lines and timing passes to perfection to put his wingers into space, he was kicking goals, flying off the line smashing people and crashing into rucks like a flanker… his hair even looked on point. 😍
1 Go to comments