The curious ‘lot of positives’ Lawes verdict on latest England loss
Stand-in England skipper Courtney Lawes has played down his team’s latest defeat, suggesting there were a lot of positives in their 10-29 loss to Ireland in Dublin.
The English lost out five-one on the try count against a sluggish Irish XV whose first-choice picks were getting their first run of the Summer Nations Series.
In contrast, three of England’s XV were getting their third successive starts this month and eight more were getting their second start.
That suggested they should be a step further down the road than Ireland in being match sharp for the finals in France, but they weren’t – a shortcoming exacerbated by them suffering a third red card in four games.
Lawes was named in an unchanged back row of Ben Earl and Billy Vunipola, but that combination came unstuck with the dismissal of Vunipola, initially via a 53rd-minute yellow card.
That sanction was soon upgraded to red by the TMO bunker and England didn’t have the scramble defence to shut the door, losing that 27-minute period of the match a man down by three tries to one – all three tries scored by wingers who had run-ins in space thanks to sweet long looping passes that exploited the space out wide.
England were only 3-7 behind for the majority of the opening half but rather than have the blueprint to go at a second-gear Ireland and pose some difficult questions, they didn’t have the attacking blueprint to press for the lead. Lawes though insisted there were positives… without specifically naming them.
“It’s very disappointing,” he began, sitting alongside Steve Borthwick following a loss that was the fifth L for England in their eight outings under their new head coach.
“The thing is if we just get certain things right in our game it’s very different, it’s a very different game and they are all things that we can control but we have to be better at controlling them.
“There is a lot of positives which is great. If we tidy up a couple of areas we will be a much different team and we have proved we can hang with the best as long as we get them right. It doesn’t make it any less disappointing that we didn’t get it right today.”
If his “lots of positives” verdict sounded sketchy, what was more encouraging was his promise that England won’t give up searching for improvements with the start of their Rugby World Cup campaign now less than three weeks away.
“We won’t give up, we will relentlessly pursue the betterment of our team. That’s all we can do.”
Comments on RugbyPass
“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
2 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
37 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
2 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
1 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful 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!
5 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 …
33 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.
5 Go to comments