England’s lack of power and physicality is cause for concern – Andy Goode
Champion teams win the physical battle and Saracens epitomised that at the weekend, while England were found wanting.
A power game and physicality are now a necessity if you want to achieve success at the top level and the weekend laid bare how reliant England are on the Vunipola brothers for that.
The game is all about the gainline, getting over it in attack and stopping the opposition getting over it in defence. While Saracens were doing a perfect job in that area against Exeter at the weekend, England were missing 36 tackles against the Barbarians.
Billy and Mako made 38 tackles between them without missing a single one, whereas Chris Robshaw and George Ford made 15 tackles between them and missed 12.
Defensively, it wasn’t even as if England were making lots of system errors, it was just a case of simple missed tackles. You can’t legislate for that.
One of the best defence coaches I ever had, if not the best, Brad Davis was always shouting defend the ball. It sounds simple, as a mantra, but England didn’t do it and they didn’t make enough gang tackles as well as missing one on one tackles.
If you do that against the likes of Semi Radradra, Josua Tuisova, Malakai Fekitoa, Victor Vito and co, they’ll destroy you. You have to have more energy and stay alive in defence but the intensity wasn’t there.
Maro Itoje, who carried hard and was a menace at the breakdown, Owen Farrell and others playing in the Premiership final will make a big difference coming into camp ahead of the tour to South Africa as well but there should’ve been enough experience and quality in that England team at the weekend to put in a much better performance than they did.
Radradra is one of the best players in the world and is a hard, hard runner but he ran straight through Robshaw after the ball came off the top of a lineout and if your back row can’t tackle him, who is going to tackle him.
It’s interesting reading quotes about this England squad and the new players coming into it and the senior players showing them what the standards are and what’s expected of them at this level. The two players that missed the most tackles were the co-captains though.
It wasn’t the inexperienced players that let them down. Tom Curry, the least experienced player, won three turnovers and was one of the best England players on the field.
Nathan Hughes is going on tour now after Jack Willis was ruled out through injury, with Don Armand still being overlooked, but there aren’t too many options at openside in that squad so I’d start Curry in that first Test in South Africa.
I think he’s up to the test physically and offers that out and out openside option that England have been missing, so I’d put him in alongside Brad Shields at blindside and Billy Vunipola at number eight.
Ford had some really nice touches in attack but teams always go looking for him and to beat South Africa you’re going to have to be physical. It’s a real shame that Ben Te’o has been ruled out because I think Owen Farrell at fly half with him at inside centre would’ve been the best combination for this tour. Piers Francis and Jason Woodward have been drafted in but they aren’t like for like replacements at all.
Elliot Daly, Alex Lozowski and Henry Slade are all good options at outside centre but Eddie Jones has got to get that midfield axis and balance right and there are lot of questions that need to be answered before the opening match against South Africa in Johannesburg.
I don’t think co-captains work either and I didn’t see anyone taking the game by the scruff of the neck and showing leadership at Twickenham on Sunday. Farrell will make a big difference in that regard and Saracens’ England contingent are all leaders and show that week in, week out in the way that they lift those around them.
Mako, Billy and Maro will have a huge effect on England’s physicality in South Africa but there’s no denying how worrying it was to see how much they were lacking in that area without them and it does suggest the depth isn’t there to win a World Cup, which is what Eddie Jones wants to be judged on.
England are at a huge crossroads for me and he needs to look at different players now because some have been churning out ok performances for too long. There are players in that England team that definitely shouldn’t be there on form.
The alarm bells are there and as phenomenal as Saracens were on Saturday, Billy Vunipola aside, their England stars played in the three straight Six Nations defeats a few months ago so the problems aren’t all going to vanish into thin air as they come back into the fold.
England need to raise their physicality and get a power game that worries oppositions. Fixing that issue as quickly as possible is the task in hand and there’s no greater physical test than a tour to South Africa, where they’ve never won a series, so the proof of the pudding will be in the eating next month.
Comments on RugbyPass
What a sad way to end a glittering career. Somebody should tell him to delete his social media accounts and face the consequences of what he's done. Then he should slip away quietly into obscurity. This isn't likely to happen, something tells me he'll be back in The Sun / Daily Mail sooner rather than later.
2 Go to commentsguys its fine! he understands why he did what he did and has taken accountability for it; why should he have to be accountable to a court? after all he did was abuse people in person - its not as if he was engaging in _online_ abuse!
2 Go to commentsChiefs flanker Kaylum Boshier yellow-carded for collapsing the scrum as it rolled towards the line. It was a maul….
1 Go to commentsyou know, i’m a leinster fan so I want Northampton to lose and it is gonna be tuff with Cortney lawes, Alex michell and the other guys🏉 lets go leinster🏉
1 Go to commentsWelcome to the Pro ranks. Those hard teams of old do hit the sole better though. its a dog fight at the top.
6 Go to commentsCan someone fill me in please, I've read a number of Ben Smith articles now and it seems he's got something again South Africa? Surely, this game was over and done with 7 months ago. Can't we have something a bit more interesting and relevant, or is this the calibre of journalist on this site?
227 Go to commentsNot sure what the Welsh are moaning about. They’ve had far more players off England, than England have had off Wales. Guys like Josh Hathaway and Kane James will play for Wales in the end. And they’ll be fsr better players for having played in the Gallagher Premiership, than they ever would have been had they stayed mired in the shambles that is Welsh rugby.
3 Go to commentsThis is all being blown totally out of proportion. First of all, since half the Irish team isn’t Irish - it’s very likely that none of the Irish players said that at all and, thus, we’re not being arrogant. Second, since half the Irish team is Kiwi - it’s very likely the Kiwi players were predicting a NZ SA World Cup final. Which they got spot on. Good on them!
163 Go to commentsAha. An Irishman with logic! Follow the flow: - Ireland peaks with a >80% win record between 2020 and 2023. And then… - crashes out of another QF at the WC; - Beat a poor French Team; - Beat 6N wooden spoonists Italy; - Play shite against eventual wooden spoonists Wales; - Lose against the most boring, “the worst English team ever” , a team widely regarded as unable to attack; - scrape through against Scotland. This article, No - Trimble, is on the money! Except for one glaring statement: _The Springboks have a few aces in the hole in this debate being the reigning world champions and official world number ones_ There is no debate, boys and girls. There it is. In black and white. “Reigning World Champions and OFFICIAL world number ones”. Come July, the overrated Andy Farrell and this overhyped team are going to enter into a world of hurt.
86 Go to commentsI’d like to know what homoerotic events Daniel enjoyed at 8th man. I clearly missed out!
19 Go to commentsThis article is missing some detail, like some actual context or info about what led to him abusing the ref.
2 Go to comments*They used to say that football is a gentleman sport watched by hooligans and rugby is a hooligan sport watched by gentlemen. How times have changed.*
3 Go to commentsexcept ot wasnt late wasnt late at all so dont know why you all saying its late he commits early and its your fault fir not paying attention
30 Go to commentsNot sure the Bulls need another average utility back in their ranks. Chamberlain has been ok for the Sharks but is by no means an X-Factor player. Bulls bought several utility backs which they barely use. A typical example would be Henry Immelman who plays mostly Fullback. The Bulls however have rarely played him this year and he has played wing or centre. Bulls want to build depth but seems like they have too many surplus players
1 Go to commentsABs lost against a side playing without a hooker - The guy playing, had one shoulder. Line outs were a gimme for the ABs, and the last 8 minutes 14 played 14 against a team that had been smashed 3 weeks in a row… Yet with all that possession, with all that territory, with all the advantages they actually had, especially in the last 8 minutes, they couldn’t buy a point. Those last 8 minutes determined if they outplayed the Boks or not. History will show that the Boks completely outplayed the ABs, especially in those last 8 minutes, the business end of any rugby match
227 Go to commentsWould’ve, could’ve, should’ve, didn’t.
227 Go to commentsKok will become a fan favourite
1 Go to commentsI am really looking forward to Leigh Halfpenny playing his first Super rugby game for the Crusaders Playing a long side his former Welsh and Scarlets team mate Johnny McNicoll.Johnny has been playing great, back in a Crusaders jersey.The attack has strengthened big time. Also looking forward to David Havili at 10. David is a class act, it also allows Dallas McLeod to remain at 12. A good thing.
1 Go to commentsIf he had stopped insisting on playing in the backrow, instead of wing, where everyone told him he should, he would have been a Bok years ago….
11 Go to comments‘Salads don’t win scrums’ 😂 I love that.
19 Go to comments