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#Post#: 126294--------------------------------------------------
England need more big lumps at prop and a clinical edge to
compete with best in world
DIR By: deadlyfrom5yardsout
Date: July 16, 2024, 2:05 am
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England delivered impressive performances in New Zealand but the
key to progress now is turning those narrow defeats into wins
BRIAN MOORE
15 July 2024 • 7:37am
Brian Moore
England fell just short, again, in their battle for a rare win
on New Zealand soil. On paper, a 2-0 series loss is not good but
that does not tell the whole story of this tour. It was Ben Earl
who identified England’s necessary next step: they need to learn
to win. A simplistic proposition, yet difficult to achieve.
Teams talk about winning becoming a habit and it is so. When you
successively succeed, particularly when you have not played
well, the psychological effect of winning gives you the
confidence to stay in the fight and to trust yourself and your
team processes. You do not panic.
With this comes the discipline to make correct decisions and to
execute them properly. From this comes the chances to claim
seemingly unlikely wins. You still must convert your chances but
without the inner belief, and the patience that comes with it,
you do not even get into a position to win. Teams that often
appear lucky, snatching last-gasp victories, are nothing of the
sort.
The evidence of England’s last four games is that they have
played well against France and twice against the All Blacks but
have come away with a sole, less impressive, win against Japan.
So, we need to look at the factors that might enable England to
get that winning habit and those that might hold them back.
This tour has shown that England’s back three can be potent in
attack. Not just with the ball in hand but also in the air.
Tommy Freeman and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso have both taken steps
forward and this is all the more pleasing as they have offered
themselves up as ball-carriers by seeking work, rather than
waiting for the ball to come to them.
George Furbank has added a creative dimension which
distinguishes him from Freddie Steward, who had a game where he
did little wrong but did not spark the sort of counter-attacks
expected with Furbank.
Alex Mitchell and Marcus Smith have developed as a pairing and,
at some point, we will be able to judge Fin Smith. Most
important for Marcus Smith is to continue to improve the
reliability of his goal-kicking. He has to underpin his
creativity with the sort of accuracy from the tee that compels
opponents to stay honest whenever they are forced into
goal-kicking range. Not only will this help England on the
scoreboard, it will have positive effects in general. Sides that
are punished from the boot are less likely to take that extra
yard in defence; they roll away from the ball quicker and are
not tempted to stick a hand in to slow down ruck ball.
Chandler Cunningham-South has provided a physical presence in
the back row that you do not get when you play two opensides,
and the fact that Fin Baxter managed to survive Test-match
scrummaging is a big plus.
As for the team’s performances. They have shown that they can
adapt to the increased pace of elite international rugby and,
most of all, they have started to accept you have to offer more
of an attacking threat than just being a good kick-and-chase
team at that level. It is absolutely crucial that they do not
resile from the positivity. It is not about entertaining; it is
a question of reality. Sides that do not offer an all-round
attacking threat rarely now win big games. Opponents are too
good to be subdued entirely and you have to be able to turn your
period of pressure into points – not just defend well.
On the threat side, there is the above point of not being able
to convert periods of pressure. From minutes 25-35 and 45-60,
England had the better of the Kiwis in terms of momentum and
territory but did not register a score. To take the most
egregious example of indiscipline, they gave away a dull penalty
for not lining up properly at a line-out close to the All Blacks
line, which was forced by a superb touch-finder from Marcus
Smith. That denied them a prime opportunity to score from a
driven line-out.
Finally, England must find at least two props on both sides of
the scrum. They desperately need a group of challengers to scrap
to succeed Joe Marler and Dan Cole. When you compare England’s
starting and bench combinations at prop, they are not the equal
of any of the top four ranked teams in the world.
Given the distinct way that scrums influence games, no side can
evidence weakness here and hope to survive. Apart from this, it
would be unreasonable not to credit Steve Borthwick and England
with making important improvements but – however they do it –
they must find more big lumps.
#Post#: 126298--------------------------------------------------
Re: England need more big lumps at prop and a clinical edge to
compete with best in world
DIR By: poorfour
Date: July 16, 2024, 3:15 am
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As ever a good analysis.
The only point that I'd make is that in the first test McKenzie
also had trouble with place kicking and I believe it's also the
stadium in which Jonny Wilkinson struggled with his kicks in
2011. If one kicker is struggling, that's on them. If multiple
kickers are, then there's probably an environmental factor.
#Post#: 126302--------------------------------------------------
Re: England need more big lumps at prop and a clinical edge to
compete with best in world
DIR By: Quinky
Date: July 16, 2024, 5:00 am
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Also, for props, size isn't everything. Think back to when the
comparatively small Lions props gave the giant Springbok front
row huge problems. And Baxter isn't the biggest prop around, but
he saw off the giant Ben Taumeifuna.
#Post#: 126308--------------------------------------------------
Re: England need more big lumps at prop and a clinical edge to
compete with best in world
DIR By: Nemoquin
Date: July 16, 2024, 7:30 am
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England could do worse than look at the current U20 props. In
the semi final at the weekend, a lot of the time the Irish scrum
went backwards at a rate of knots
#Post#: 126312--------------------------------------------------
Re: England need more big lumps at prop and a clinical edge to
compete with best in world
DIR By: Yareet
Date: July 16, 2024, 10:19 am
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--- Quote from: Nemoquin link ---
>
> England could do worse than look at the current U20 props. In
the semi final at the weekend, a lot of the time the Irish scrum
went backwards at a rate of knots
>
--- End Quote ---
Four tightheads used as well. Will be an... interesting
conversation at Carrington as Asher played out of position but
schooled Patreece Bell.
#Post#: 126394--------------------------------------------------
Re: England need more big lumps at prop and a clinical edge to
compete with best in world
DIR By: Quinston Churchill
Date: July 20, 2024, 4:22 am
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From what I gather, Asher prefers playing tighthead, but his
size/body shape suggest he might be better at loosehead. Given
that Sale also have Harper, I’d ideally like to see him
prioritised at tighthead with Asher competing with Rodd for the
loosehead spot.
I wonder whether any more of our young props will emerge from
the Bomb school of scrummaging? Hobson feels like he could be on
the verge of a first team breakthrough and I know that a couple
of the academy props are huge an highly rated.
#Post#: 126397--------------------------------------------------
Re: England need more big lumps at prop and a clinical edge to
compete with best in world
DIR By: Yareet
Date: July 20, 2024, 7:29 am
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--- Quote from: Quinston Churchill link ---
>
> From what I gather, Asher prefers playing tighthead, but his
size/body shape suggest he might be better at loosehead. Given
that Sale also have Harper, I’d ideally like to see him
prioritised at tighthead with Asher competing with Rodd for the
loosehead spot.
>
> I wonder whether any more of our young props will emerge from
the Bomb school of scrummaging? Hobson feels like he could be on
the verge of a first team breakthrough and I know that a couple
of the academy props are huge an highly rated.
>
--- End Quote ---
All the chat is we want him at 3 and he prefers it.
Appreciate that this won’t be of a great deal of interest to
many on here but Asher is arguably our second choice 3. Harper
is good when he has a run of games but can be rusty otherwise
and something of a penalty magnet. Behind Schonert, the field is
therefore a little open.
At 1, we have Rodd, Si McIntyre and Ross Harrison. All very
capable.
#Post#: 126406--------------------------------------------------
Re: England need more big lumps at prop and a clinical edge to
compete with best in world
DIR By: deadlyfrom5yardsout
Date: July 21, 2024, 3:03 am
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[emoji42][emoji42][emoji42]
just kidding....
#Post#: 126421--------------------------------------------------
Re: England need more big lumps at prop and a clinical edge to
compete with best in world
DIR By: TomBuckQuin
Date: July 21, 2024, 8:19 am
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--- Quote from: Quinston Churchill link ---
>
> From what I gather, Asher prefers playing tighthead, but his
size/body shape suggest he might be better at loosehead. Given
that Sale also have Harper, I’d ideally like to see him
prioritised at tighthead with Asher competing with Rodd for the
loosehead spot.
>
> I wonder whether any more of our young props will emerge from
the Bomb school of scrummaging? Hobson feels like he could be on
the verge of a first team breakthrough and I know that a couple
of the academy props are huge an highly rated.
>
--- End Quote ---
Yeah, Hobson and Ashworth both have the TH build and you'd hope
they've been hoovering up every morsel of advice Bomb has been
feeding them in training (and Collier while he was here). Feels
like we should expect to see Hobson on team sheets this coming
season...
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