Three key areas for England to beat New Zealand
If England are to make it to their fourth Rugby World Cup final on Saturday, not only are they going to need to turn in their performance of the tournament so far, they are also going to have to buck the form books and record their first win over New Zealand since 2012.
Eddie Jones’ side are capable of beating the All Blacks, certainly, having impressed over the past four years, whilst New Zealand’s aura of invincibility has been dealt a number of blows by the British and Irish Lions, Ireland, South Africa and Australia. That said, England will need to be firing on all cylinders in Yokohama if they are to end their six-match losing streak against the southern hemisphere team.
The knowledge that they can do it will not be alien to the England side, with Ben Youngs, Owen Farrell, Manu Tuilagi and Mako Vunipola all having been involved in the win in 2012 and all likely to start on Saturday. Jonathan Joseph, Courtney Lawes and Dan Cole were part of that 2012 group, too, and Jones could use all three when he names his side tomorrow.
We have taken a look at three key areas where those players and the rest of the England team will need to be at their very best if they are to unseat the reigning world champions and give themselves a shot at their second world title.
Pressure the lineout
New Zealand’s lineout is the peerless set-piece of world rugby. England’s may statistically match up, but the multitude of options that New Zealand have, which includes perhaps the best three attacking jumpers in the international arena in Kieran Read, Brodie Retallick and Sam Whitelock, and the difficulty that opposition teams have of reading and disrupting the unit, is highly impressive.
This puts an onus on Maro Itoje to step up and be able to challenge, ideally by stealing ball, but failing that at least disrupting and slowing down the service New Zealand can give to Aaron Smith. The All Blacks are deadly in the first couple of phases off of set-piece and England will need to deny them those opportunities as much as possible. If Lawes retains his starting spot – and this could be a good reason why he might – he will need to aid Itoje in putting that pressure on. Lawes is one of the best in the Gallagher Premiership at doing just that.
How many England players would make a combined XV with New Zealand? It's closer than you might think, according to @alexshawsporthttps://t.co/iPNlfNGxAO
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 21, 2019
Balance of line-speed and tackling efficiency
The All Blacks are powerful and they are elusive, something which is illustrated by their 89 clean breaks so far this tournament, a figure which has them comfortably at the top of the charts. Teams that can get up fast and into the faces of New Zealand have historically had a level of success in countering their silky ball-handling and smart decision-making.
Equally, however, England cannot afford to sacrifice their efficiency in the tackle in order to deliver that line-speed. If the speed and a missed tackle can force New Zealand back inside, then that should be job done with the covering defence coming across. If the tackle is missed and New Zealand can carry straight through, over or to the outside of the would-be tackler, then England will be in plenty of trouble. This is the biggest test of John Mitchell’s tenure as England’s defence coach, and his charges will need to be quick, physical and smart for 80 minutes.
How the backrows stack up…#ENGvNZL #RWC19 #RWC2019 https://t.co/MNfyb8jRU1
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 23, 2019
Farrell has to fire
Even if England can do both of those previous things well and consistently, they are still, almost certainly, going to concede tries. They won’t be able to contain New Zealand and let them punch themselves out, just as they did to Australia last week, as the All Blacks will manufacture enough space and opportunities to cross the whitewash. As such, England need to be able to do the same and that requires Farrell, whether at 10 or at 12, to fire offensively.
His flat, defence-beating pass to Kyle Sinckler was an example of the strings that Farrell is capable of pulling and he will need to create opportunities for England. Tuilagi is a player that New Zealand will be very wary of and Farrell will need to play the Leicester Tiger into the right positions, but also be aware of what other opportunities Tuilagi’s presence alone creates for the rest of the team. England’s playmaker will be under pressure to kick accurately, defend as well as he did against Australia and be the creative spark to help his side unlock New Zealand’s underrated defence.
Watch: Eddie Jones claims England were spied on in training
Comments on RugbyPass
The 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?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 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
3 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 commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to comments