Al's Blog from the Bog

Today was the second round of matches in the 2009 Six Nations Championship and the second chance for Martin Johnson to show us that he can turn around England’s fortunes after 5 miserable years. ‘England expects…’ they say, but I’m just wondering, do we expect too much?

Looking back over the last thirty-something years – as far back as my memory stretches – I have to admit that England have never been an ‘exciting’ team in the way that the French always used to be, or the Welsh are at the moment, or the southern hemisphere teams always seem to be.

No, England’s style has always been that of the sledgehammer rather than the scalpel. I don’t understand why. Culturally, ethnically, genetically even, England is about as mixed up as you can get, so it can’t be a problem that we’re born with, it has to be a ‘learned’ behaviour. In which case, can’t we just unlearn it?

Under Clive Woodward England became the ultimate professional unit and went on to win the world cup in 2003. It wasn’t through flair or creativity; rather it was through fitness, strength, planning and attention to detail ( and some very fine players). But almost as soon as that world cup tournament ended, so did England’s greatness (if you think ‘greatness’ is too strong, I suggest you revisit the records for 2003). Bizarrely, England went from dominant world power to 2nd division in the blink of an eye.

All sorts of reasons have been put forward by commentators; the age of the squad, retirements of key players, burn-out due to the pressure of playing so many games, all sorts of excuses. I have no suggestions myself, but after the achievements of that period I was happy to live on my memories for a while, until everyone was rested and ready to have another crack at it. 5 years though? Excepting the 2007 world cup tournament, which was remarkable for the fact that England did so well, totally against the run of form, England have not played like a world class team in all that time.

And so it continues. Martin Johnson, world cup winning captain, was hailed as the man who would change things. Little sign of it so far. Some fresh selections and the odd hint of real ambition, though not enough to call ‘green shoots of recovery’ yet. But then, can one man make all the difference? OK, maybe Woodward was one such but it took him several years. How can anyone expect Johnson to click his fingers and fix everything?

The problems in the England rugby setup run quite deep. I don’t believe it has anything to do with the physical side of the game. It’s all in the mind. Not just confidence and belief, passion or whatever. Intelligence on the field is what is most notable by its absence. Two games down in the 2009 campaign, 2 yellow cards per game. 25% of each match played with a man short. I’ll bet that on the training pitch the players perform perfectly. But when it really matters they are like rabbits caught in the headlights, even the oldest, wisest heads.

I believe that we have the talent, the commitment, the passion and even the flair. But something is going badly wrong in the coaching and preparation for the big occasions. I wonder if the entire England Rugby organisation needs to be rebuilt, with all selections – staff as well as players – based on demonstrable, recent form. It can be fixed, but from where we are now it might take years, even if Johnson is the right man. Roll on RWC2015.

rugby rugby, Six Nations