Sinckler and England's ill-discipline costs them dear - Andy Goode
England had the game won in Cardiff on Saturday but ill-discipline cost them once more and Kyle Sinckler was the biggest culprit.
He played really well but him losing his head swung the momentum Wales’ way massively. Warren Gatland described him as an “emotional time bomb” in the build-up to the game and he was proved right.
He made 17 tackles in 56 minutes and was all over the pitch contributing in a positive sense but then he got wound up and felt he had to act as some sort of enforcer so he fell into the trap hook, line and sinker!
He lost his head and, as well as that resulting in a couple of penalties and leading to his premature departure, it really hurt England even more because it got the Welsh boys even more pumped up. That’s the last thing England needed at that stage in the cauldron that is the Principality Stadium.
It’s a massive flaw in his game and Eddie Jones had no choice to haul him off before the hour mark. He was playing so well and there’s no way he would’ve been taken off then if it wasn’t for the lack of discipline.
You only have to look at the fact that Jamie George played the full 80 minutes and Ben Moon only gave way to Ellis Genge for the final four minutes to see that it wasn’t a change that was going to be made anyway at that point.
Clearly, Dan Biggar coming on for Gareth Anscombe had a big role to play as well but momentum shifts are huge in sport at the highest level and they aren’t just caused by individual errors, sometimes they’re brought about because of emotional factors and that’s what happened on Saturday.
It’s great that his coach and team-mates come out and defend him and call for people not to make a villain out of him, that’s exactly what you’d expect to happen, but it’s right that he’s taken to task in the media.
As I said, he had a great game up until losing his head and the last thing I want to do is vilify him but this isn’t a new phenomenon and it’s something he has to start putting right and fast. Whilst it’s great that Eddie Jones is defending him in public, you’d hope he’s had a chat with him behind closed doors.
I remember talking to Jason Leonard about it and he said that when Joe Marler plays alongside him he spends half the time trying to calm him down. It’s great to have an edge about you but it could end up costing England even more dearly later in the year and they need him to address it.
Eddie has taken to referring to his bench as ‘finishers’, as we all know, but he clearly doesn’t trust his replacements at the moment. The game was crying out for Dan Robson to come on and add some pace to it but he didn’t trust him to go on and do what he does well.
He did put Joe Launchbury on for George Kruis for the final quarter of an hour but he was forced to put Harry Williams on because of Sinckler’s lack of control and then Joe Cokanasiga and Brad Shields only came on because of injuries to Jonny May and Courtney Lawes.
England had done a job on Wales in the first half and the crowd looked a bit shell-shocked at times. If they’d have got the try just before half-time, I think the game was over but it all started to unravel midway through the second half.
They lost their discipline and Sinckler was the main culprit. Don’t get me wrong, he shouldn’t be made a scapegoat of because England lost the penalty count 10-4 and they weren’t all down to him but it’d be stupid to suggest that there’s no issue.
Quite a few of the penalties England conceded were for offside and that’s something you have to address as a team on the field but the offside law is something I think World Rugby need to look at as well because teams are half a yard offside a lot of the time and aren’t always pulled up on it.
Those penalties are something England can deal with and, to a certain extent, they’re also the result of the defensive system they’re trying to implement and also the fact that they’re making over 200 tackles per game on average!
There’s no doubt that you can win games making that many tackles and England proved that in the opening couple of rounds but you can’t expect to win week in, week out if you’re having to put in quite that big a shift in defence.
It saps a lot more energy defending than it does attacking and you’re not going to look as fluent in attack if you’re not having a lot of possession and you’re having to put your body on the line so much in defence.
England’s game plan didn’t change too much from the opening couple of rounds but they came up against a better back three and the accuracy of their kicking game just wasn’t anywhere near as good.
And, there’s no doubt England missed Maro Itoje and Mako Vunipola, in particular, when they had the ball in hand. Billy Vunipola made 20 carries, Tom Curry had seven and none of the other forwards had more than five so there was too much onus on the Saracens number eight.
You only need to be off by one per cent or so in a few areas to lose a tight Test match that you might otherwise have won and that’s exactly what happened to England. They won’t panic and they haven’t gone from zero to hero to zero again in the space of a few weeks but there are a few areas they need to improve on and discipline is certainly one of them.
Unfortunately, as well as he played and he was fantastic for the 56 minutes he was on the field, I do believe that Sinckler’s ill-discipline and inability to keep a cool head was a major contributing factor in England losing the game.
Let’s not make a villain out of him, as Eddie has asked, but let’s be honest and realistic and hope it’s something they’re working on with him because if he sorts that out, he can be a world-beater.
Comments on RugbyPass
Absolutely..all they need is a chance in yhe playoffs and I bet all the other teams will be nervous…THEY KNOW HOW TO WIN IM THE PLAYOFFS..
2 Go to commentsI really hope he comes back and helps out with some coaching.
1 Go to commentsI think we are all just hoping that the Olympic 7s doesn’t suffer the same sad fate as the last RWC with the officials ruining the spectacle.
1 Go to commentsPersonally, I’ve lost the will to even be bothered about the RFU, the structure, the participants. It’s all a sham. I now simply enjoy getting a group of friends together to go and watch a few games a year in different locations (including Europe, the championship, etc). I feel extremely sorry for the real fans of these clubs who are constantly ignored by the RFU and other administrators. I feel especially sorry for the fans of clubs in the Championship who have had considerable central funding stripped away and are then expected to just take whatever the RFU put to them. Its all a sham, especially if the failed clubs are allowed to return.
9 Go to commentsI’m guessing Carl Hayman would have preferred to have stayed in NZ with benefit of hindsight. Up north there is the expectation to play twice as many games with far less ‘player management’ protocols that Paul is now criticising. Less playing through concussions means longer, healthier, careers. Carter used as the eg here by Paul, his sabbatical allowed him to play until age 37. OK its not an exact science but there is far more expectations on players who sign for Top 14 or Engl Prem clubs to get value for the huge salaries. NZR get alot wrong but keeping their best players in NZ rugby is not one of them. SA clubs are virtually devoid of their top players now, no thanks. They cant threaten the big teams in the Champions Cup, the squads have little depth. Cant see Canes/Chiefs struggling. Super has been great this year, fantastic high skill matches. Drua a fantastic addition and Jaguares will add another quality team eventually. Aus teams performing strongly and no doubt will benefit with the incentive of a Lions tour and a home RWC. Let Jordie enjoy his time with Leinster, it will allow the opportunity for another player to emerge at Canes in his absence.
5 Go to commentsLove that man, his way to despise angry little men is so funny ! 😂
4 Go to comments“South African franchises would be powerhouses if we had all our overseas based players back in situ. We would have the same unbeatable aura the Toulouses, Leinsters or Saracens of this world have had over the last decade or so.” Proof that Jake white does not understand the economics of the game in SA. Players earning abroad are not going to simply come back and represent the bulls. But they might if they have a springbok contract.
22 Go to commentsA lot of fans just joined in for the fun of it! We all admire O'Gara and what he has done for La Rochelle
4 Go to commentsThe RFU will find a way to mess this up as usual. My bet is there will be no promotion into the the Premiership, only relegation into National League One. Hopefully they won’t parachute failed clubs into the league at the expense of clubs who have battled for promotion.
9 Go to commentsWell that’s the contracts for RG and Jordie bought and paid for. Now, what are the chances we can persuade Antoine to hop over with all the extra dosh we’ll have from living at the Aviva & Croke next season…??? 🤑🤑🤑
14 Go to commentsWow, that’s incredible. Great for rugby.
14 Go to commentsYou probably read that parling is going to coach the wallaby lineout but if not before now you have.
14 Go to commentsIf someone like Leo Cullen was in O’Gara’s place I don’t hear Boo-ing. It’s not just that La Rochelle has hurt Leinster and O’Gara is their Irish boss. It’s the needle that he brings and the pantomime activity before the game around pretending that Munster were supporting LaRochelle just because O’Gara is from Cork. That’s dividing Irish provinces just to get an advantage for his French Team. He can F*ck right off with that. BOOOOO! (but not while someone is lying injured)
4 Go to commentsDid the highlanders party too hard before the game? They were the pits.
1 Go to commentsWhat a player! Not long until he’s in the England side, surely?
4 Go to commentsHe seems to have the same aura as Marcus Smith - by which I mean he’s consistently judged as if he’s several years younger than he actually is. Mngomezulu has played 24 times for the Stormers. When Pollard was his age he had played 24 times for South Africa! He has more time to develop, but he has also had time to do some developing already, and he hasn’t demonstrated nearly as much talent in that time as one would expect. If he is a generational talent, then it must be a pretty poor generation.
6 Go to commentsThe greatest Springbok coach of all time is entirely on the money. Rassie and Jacques have given the south african public a great few years, but the success of the springbok selection policy will need to be judged in light of what comes next. The poor condition that the provincial system is currently in doesn’t bode well for the next few years of international rugby, and the insane 2026 schedule that the Boks have lined up could also really harm both provincial and international consistency.
22 Go to commentsJake White is a brilliant coach and a master in the press. This is another masterclass in media relations and PR but its also a very narrow view with arguments that dont always hold water. White wants his team to win, he wants the best players in SA and wants his team competitive. You however have to face up to the reality of a poor exchange rate and big clubs with big budgets. SA Rugby cant compete and unless it can find more money SA players will keep leaving regardless of Springbok eligibility and this happened in 2015 - 2017. Also rugby is not cricket. Cricket has 3 formats and T20 cricket is where the money is at. When it comes to club vs country the IPL is king but that wont happen because the international calendar does not clash with the club calendar in rugby. So the argument about rugby going down the same path as cricket is really a non-starter
22 Go to commentsNZ rugby seem not to have learnt anything from professional rugby. Super rugby was dying and SA left before they died with the competition. SA rugby did a u turn on their approach to international players playing overseas and such players are now selected for Bok teams. As much as each country would love to retain their players playing in local competitions, this is the way the world is evolving my friends. Move with it or stay 20 years behind the times. One more thing. NZ rugby hierarchy think they are the big cheese. Take a more humble approach guys. You do not seem to have your players best interests at heart.
5 Go to commentsBeaches? In Cardiff? Where?
1 Go to comments