The Courtney Lawes verdict on bizarre try in sluggish England win
England skipper Courtney Lawes retains faith that his team’s bumbling attack will be at its best when it most matters at the Rugby World Cup.
Their lack of creativity in the Steve Borthwick era has been regularly criticised and the hope was that Sunday night’s fixture versus Japan in Nice would see them build on last weekend’s try-less success against Argentina with 14 players following Tom Curry’s third-minute red card.
However, despite managing to keep their full complement of players on the pitch for only the third time in seven matches, their approach to breaking down Japan was so laboured that they were booed by their own England supporters at around the 50th-minute mark for tamely kicking away possession.
England, who had a 24th-minute try from Lewis Ludlam, were unimpressively 13-9 ahead at that juncture and Japan were to close to within a point before a madcap moment on 56 minutes saw Joe Marler provide Lawes with a bizarre headed assist after the ball had been fumbled his way by the mishandling Will Stuart.
It was a flukey score but it was enough to finally piece Japanese momentum and after Freddie Steward added a third on 66 minutes, England finished out the Pool D game by securing the four-try bonus point and the 34-12 win with a clock in the red score from Joe Marchant.
Three tries in 25 minutes was very much out of character for this England side as they had arrived into the match needing on average 70 minutes to score a single try, but even that late flourish wasn’t enough to appease the impression that they remain extremely limited in attack.
Lawes begged to differ, stating: “We showed glimpses how good our attack can be and we will continue to work on it. We are getting better every day and we’re getting better at it, we’re taking steps forward. Come later on in the competition we are hoping we are firing in all cylinders.”
The conditions in Nice didn’t help their accuracy, he added. “It was tough. Even when you got a good grasp of it [the ball] going into contact you can feel it spinning out of your hands, sometimes before you have even made contact.
“It’s actually really quite challenging at the minute because it is so greasy, it’s so hot, really humid, so you are already sweating. It makes pretty much like a wet weather game out there.”
Reflecting on his try which was the game’s defining score, he explained: “It was quite a lucky try but I will take them where they come. It was a good bit of luck for us and in these conditions, you will take what you are given really.
“I saw it ricocheted off his [Marler’s] head so I went and scored the try just in case, but I was pretty sure it had gone backwards (off Stuart) and then come off his head. I told the ref on the way out. I had a good idea it was going to get given.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Does a blitz defence not have a weekness against a well-placed grubber kick, perhaps angled cleverly. All the defence is up and the full-back can only cover so much ground. Thoughts?
28 Go to commentsWhile Iose is destructive in the Canes set-up, he is not big for an international 8 and could struggle against the top teams. With his speed, he could be developed into a seven but, as Ben points out, he doesn’t show a scavenging game with the Canes or make dominating tackles. Sotutu has shown a step up this year and attitude plus motivation seems to be the big areas of growth. Deserves another AB shot imo.
3 Go to commentsNaholo is my only question mark for this side. He wasn’t the only one who had a forgettable game against the Brumbies but he was passive, defensively poor and generally lacked energy. Needs to get a whole lot busier for me. I would have liked to see Sullivan on that wing with Higgins on the bench (if staying with a 6-2 as BeegMike points out on here!)
3 Go to commentsWell, I am sure that Eben said exactly what he meant to say, exactly how he meant to say it. Does he strike you as a man that doesn't know arrogance when he sees it. He should know it because he has shaken the arrogance out of many foes before.
130 Go to commentsPls get it into your thick arrogant heads that the final was played by two Southern Hemisphere teams. The best against the best and that Argentina was just unlucky otherwise non of the Northetn Hemisphere teams would have seen the light of day.
130 Go to commentsAs long as New Zealand youth are involved in sport they are passionate for, and are well supported, it’s all good. I love league as well as rugby. NRL clubs have long since scouted the First 15 competitions, the NH and Japan scout super rugby and NPC. It’s a miracle there’s any players left for the all blacks to pick from.
4 Go to commentsI'm a Bok fan, so I don't say this lightly, but he is one of my all time favourite players. I am really going to miss watching him play. Thanks for many great memories. You are a true legend of the game.
3 Go to commentsBest way to deal with all of this is to play another game.
130 Go to commentsIt’s 12-15 games Luke. Ringrose has barely played in 2024 and Henshaw and Keenan have also been out for spells in the same time period. There are always injuries and for younger players to play with the likes of Barrett will be great for them. It’s just looking for negatives where there are none.
5 Go to commentsAndy Goode pushing his own agenda with very dubious considerations on refereeing performances. Luke Pearce speaking a bit of French doesn’t make him a good and adequate referee for the Champions Cup final; his latest refereeing performance in particular was not so great.
4 Go to commentsJordie knows that he has to earn the right to put on the jersey, whatever that jersey might be.
5 Go to commentsThe best outside centre in the world at one point. He will be greatly missed.
3 Go to commentsYip his great for the big moments when needed as a safa really enjoy watching him
4 Go to commentsOne that will start to come up from now on is penalties for back pushes during kick chase scrambles. Very difficult to detect. In Croke Park if you replay the Hendy NH try, you will see Furbank push Porter in the back, who collides with Larmour knocking the ball across into Hendy’s path to dot down. A more significant example was in the RWC QTR final where Arendse pushes Fickou into two other French players for the ball to spill into Arendse’s path for him to gather and run in to score SAs first try. Not cheating if you are not caught and very difficult to spot but with kicking becoming so critical I feel its an area that will referreeed/TMO-ed more.
4 Go to commentsWhat a pathetic little twit Andy Goode is, as if we care what he thinks…..😂
130 Go to commentsFoxy has been a wonderful player for the Scarlets and Wales.
3 Go to commentsNika the Georgian is the best referee in the world at the moment. Luckily we will be spared the shite SH refs and Barnes will hopefully remain retired given how shite and embarrassing he was at the RWC.
4 Go to commentsThis is the most exciting game of the summer imo, as we really won’t know in advance how both teams are going to play. - Will Robertson just reproduce his Crusaders tactics from last year, or will there be a conscious effort to borrow from the Hurricanes and Blues, and from the aspects of the ABs world cup strategy that worked well? - England under Borthwick have put in some good performances playing attacking rugby, and some good performances playing kick-oriented defensive rugby. Will Borthwick try to merge them together into a single all-court game, or will he continue switching between different approaches depending on the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition?
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
9 Go to comments