England's Japanese scare: Winners and losers
It may have been far from the emphatic victory that Eddie Jones called for, and if the Japan team had been to the temple to pray, as he suggested they should, it seems a divine being was paying attention. England ultimately eased to a 35-15 victory at Twickenham, but it was not without its early scares.
For the first 40 minutes, the Brave Blossoms gave England all that they could handle, and the visitors went into the break with a 15-10 lead over the hosts, dominating both possession and territory and denying England any of the control that they would have felt they could have exerted prior to kick-off.
Jones’ side grew into the game and once the 60-minute mark rolled around they began, finally, to move through the gears and take the game beyond Japan, but it was a performance which fell considerably below the pre-match billing that the Australian had given.
Nevertheless, England and Jones will have learnt a lot from an instructive 80 minutes at Twickenham and we have separated some of those lessons into some clear winners and losers from Saturday’s encounter.
Winners
Joe Cokanasiga
Of England’s 11 changes to their starting XV, no newly-introduced player was more impactful on Saturday than Cokanasiga, a fact that was made even more impressive by the fact he was on his international debut.
His power was a new weapon in England’s arsenal out wide and though that physicality clearly shone through, it was his speed, work rate and aerial ability when chasing kicks which really caught the eye, as he won two contestable kicks back for his side. The second of these preceded his first international try, as the batted ball was collected by Jamie George, with the hooker setting Richard Wigglesworth away, before Cokanasiga recovered from his high-flying heroics to finish off the scrum-half’s break.
The Bath wing’s defensive reads, one-on-one tackles and positioning in the back field, especially when Elliot Daly broke out or was drawn to a sideline by Japan’s kicking game, was also excellent. He could not have done much more to throw his hat into the mix to play against Australia, feature in the Six Nations and be in contention for the Rugby World Cup.
Ben Moon and Kyle Sinckler
From concerns before the international window about the array of players missing at loosehead and the non-selection of Dan Cole, this duo has gone a long way to erasing worries England fans may have had about the side’s front row depth.
England had dominant scrums against South Africa and New Zealand and rarely dipped below solid parity when Moon was on the pitch, and that was again on show when he emerged from the bench against Japan. The Exeter loosehead has had to be patient in his career to date, but he has distinguished himself over the last few weeks and would be unlucky not to remain in the mix once Mako Vunipola and Ellis Genge return from injury.
As for Sinckler, the consistent critique on him has been his discipline. His scrummaging has come on significantly over the last couple of seasons and his ability in the loose is up there with the very best front rowers in world rugby, but often these strengths have been undone by silly, unforced penalties. Against Japan, he reinforced what he showed against South Africa and New Zealand, that those penalty issues are a thing of a past, yet the impact of his play in the loose remains as good, if not better, than it has ever been.
Ben Youngs
A winner by default, here, with Danny Care failing to exert the control over the game against Japan that England have enjoyed with Youngs of late. The Leicester scrum-half was in fine form against the Springboks and All Blacks, not least so because he dictated the tempo of play, without coughing up possession through turnovers.
Care brought some good tempo initially, but then started to play loosely, throwing an intercept pass from the base of the ruck, knocking on a stolen lineout inside his own try line and then a missed tackle on Michael Leitch which led to the Japan captain crossing the try line.
The dynamic of Care arriving from the bench and upping the tempo a notch or two has worked well with Youngs as the starter over the opening two weeks of internationals and this game only served to emphasise the effectiveness of that combination.
Losers
George Ford
Similar to Care, this was Ford’s opportunity to show his control on the game – without the safety blanket of Owen Farrell outside in the 12 jersey – and it just didn’t pan out.
His goal-kicking was accurate, and he came up with a nice inside ball for Mark Wilson’s try, but it was not the type of ‘field general’ performance he needed to put in to stake a real claim to retain the 10 jersey that he had owned for the last couple of seasons. It was noticeable how much more cohesive and organised the back line looked, both in attack and defence, once Farrell came on at half time. As much as this is a ‘loss’ for Ford, it’s equally a win for Farrell, who will likely return to the fly-half position for the visit of Australia on Saturday.
John Mitchell
It’s still early days in Mitchell’s tenure as England’s defence coach, but this was not an encouraging display, with Japan finding a lot of joy against the English defensive line. Furthermore, England’s ability to force turnovers and hurt Japan on the transition was also limited.
Perhaps this is a bigger indictment of the players brought in, with England going relatively well defensively against both South Africa and New Zealand in previous weeks. If that’s the case, Mitchell will still feel unhappy about the performance, as it has highlighted some defensive frailties in England’s depth options, options which they may well need come the RWC next year.
Exeter Chiefs
There has been a consistent theme, or criticism, during Jones’ time as England head coach that the Australian has been reluctant to trust or select a number of Exeter players. It’s partly the smaller roles for the players he does select from the club and partly the players he doesn’t select at all, such as Don Armand.
The game against Japan was an opportunity for Alec Hepburn, Harry Williams and Jack Nowell to really push forward their claims and, unfortunately, it seemed to slip through their fingers. In fairness, both Moon and Henry Slade had positive impacts off the bench, with the former, in particular, shining.
England’s scrum has struggled with Hepburn and Williams over the last few weeks and Nowell didn’t have a bad game, but equally, he didn’t put in the kind of commanding display that would’ve made Jones sit up and say he is the 13 to move forward with, or that he offers more threat on the wing than Jonny May, Anthony Watson or even the surging Cokanasiga.
Alex Lozowski
Unused in South Africa this summer and then kept waiting this autumn due to a ban in the Heineken Champions Cup, this was not the audition for England that Lozowski had been hoping for. A couple of crucial missed tackles and an inability to really get his attacking game going saw the centre removed at half time, with Farrell taking on the responsibilities at 12.
It wasn’t the most fortuitous of positions to be put in, with the playmaker having been predominately used at 13 in recent times and then moved inside and thrust outside of a half-back combination that were struggling to control the game, but still, he will be disappointed with the showing that he put on. He may have to wait some time for another opportunity, with the likes of Ben Te’o and Slade likely coming back in against Australia, as well as Manu Tuilagi reportedly closer to fitness.
Watch: Ben Smith talks about New Zealand’s loss in Dublin against Ireland.
Comments on RugbyPass
Beautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to comments