Al's Blog from the Bog

Saturday’s game between Scotland and Italy was billed as the ‘wooden spoon decider’ which, coming as it does just half way through the competition, implies that neither team is any good and the result is unimportant. This is really rather unfair; neither team is likely to win a world cup any time soon, but both have some very talented players and the capacity to play exciting rugby. I was hoping for a close, entertaining game.

Sadly the pressure on both teams – and especially the coaching staff – not to lose was horribly apparent, and led to a match where neither side were willing to take any risks; most of the game was just plain dull. Italian No.8 Sergio Parisse again showed his class, while for Scotland the Evans brothers hinted at the excitement they can bring to a game.

The scoreline at the end flattered Scotland in that they simply didn’t deserve that many points, despite being by far the better side over 80 minutes. Judged on this performance, both teams have a long way to go to catch up with the rest of the 6 nations, although we know that Scotland are capable of pulling rabbits out of hats on occasion – the same cannot yet be said of Italy.

Billed as the main event of the day, the Ireland v England match was also afflicted with the desire not to lose, again stifling much of the play. Ireland went into the game as strong favourites, on paper as well as form. England, by contrast, were under huge pressure to show that they were at least starting to recover the sort of form that they should be showing, given the size of their player pool.

Ireland failed to live up to their top billing, appearing to be hesitant and lacking in ideas of how to break down England’s defence. Ronan O’Gara, Ireland’s No.10, had a bad day at the office and this undoubtedly played a big part in shaping the team’s performance, although it would be unfair to lay all the blame at his door. Ireland currently have a number of players in the very top rank and they must all share the responsibility. Only the ever-reliable Brian O’Driscoll really stood out and it was he who held things together for the Irish.

England, on the other hand, demonstrated once again that they have a phenomenal defence but little to offer anywhere else. There were hints of an attacking strategy beginning to germinate but basic errors, a complete lack of vision and some catastrophically brainless moments undid any good work. Indeed, the best move of the match was a break by Tait from first phase possession that should have resulted in an easy run-in for Flutey, but Tait appeared to forget to make the scoring pass.

Two more yellow cards and several marginal late/illegal tackles did nothing to dispel England’s growing reputation for ‘dirty’ play, and of course meant that they (again) played 25% of the match with a man down. 10 yellows in their last four games says it all.

A fair result, then, which leaves Ireland on course for a Grand Slam, but they will have to do much better to overcome Wales in their final match.

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Wales were strong favourites for a win in Paris last night, the first ever ‘Friday Night’ 6 nations fixture. Over the last couple of years the French seem to have radically changed their thinking about how to play test rugby; coach Marc Lievrement was under considerable pressure to conjure up a win and, perhaps more importantly, demonstrate what his strategy actually is.

Although Wales have yet to reach the heights of last year’s performances, their matches this year have demonstrated both a good deal of control in the forwards and a rapier-like cutting edge in the backs. Any team coming up against them would have good reason to be nervous.

From the start it was obvious that France were focussed and would not roll over easily. Early tit-for-tat exchanges favoured the Welsh but only by a whisker. A (rightly) disallowed try prevented the French going ahead but the pace and power of their forwards and backs was clearly in evidence and it became apparent that their ‘new strategy’ owes a lot to England circa 2003. Big, strong forwards with surprising speed hammered at the Welsh defences, while the backline employed a powerful and aggressive defence, largely snuffing out the threat of the Welsh centres.

Wales went 13-3 up after a sublimely simple attack which sliced open their opponent’s defence, and it was at this point that one imagined French heads would drop, discipline would desert them and Wales would be free to work their magic. Not so. France came back with more power and by half time the score was level.

The third quarter was the most impressive, at least from a neutral standpoint. Wales did little wrong – a few mistakes here and there, but the best team in the world will not be 100% accurate. No, the shock was the way the French dominated the ball through their ferocious forwards. They should have been getting tired, weakening a bit, but it looked more like someone had lit the blue touch paper. The hits were hard – from both sides – and bodies seemed to be strewn all over the pitch.

By the time the fury had begun to abate we were deep into the final quarter and the Welsh were 8 points down. A final push from the men in red saw them camped in the French 22 for the last 10 minutes, but ‘les bleues’ held firm for a well-deserved victory.

A great match, some wonderful rugby with fire, passion, aggression and skill, and good discipline from both sides – although Tom Shanklin was lucky not receive a yellow card for a dangerous tackle. It is rare for me to feel my heart pounding towards the end of a game, unless England are playing in a close contest, but I was genuinely excited by this match.

rugby rugby, Six Nations

The second week of the 2009 RBS 6 Nations Championship didn’t throw up any surprises but there were some notable moments.

The weekend started in Paris, where France entertained Scotland. I expected the French to win comfortably and I hoped that they might even show us that French coach Marc Lievremont’s strategy was starting to make some sense. The surprise was that, from the outset, it was Scotland who seemed to be attempting to run the ball wide, re-invigorated as they were by the inclusion in the starting line-up of the Evans brothers. Nevertheless, there was the nagging feeling that, for all their ambition – and indeed first-half superiority in all areas bar the scrum – Scotland would not win.

The Scots failed to capitalise on their territory and possession, going into half time trailing by two penalties to one. The second half saw the French exercise a little more control, but they still failed to impress. Although the Scots never looked like winning, they refused to lie down and certainly can be proud to have come quite close to an upset. A little more discipline and perhaps a couple of genuine locks – the experiment of playing with backrow forwards in the second row failed to provide the expected mobility and let them down in the tight situations – and the result could have been different.

Wales took on England at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff, with only one result anticipated. The only question was how large the winning margin would be. The bookmakers were not disappointed although they may have been a little nervous at times.

Before the match, much had been made of the loss of Shane Williams to an injury but such is the strength in depth of the current Welsh back division that if it was a problem it was all psychological. In the event Wales looked controlled and always threatening, if ultimately a little disappointing.

That disappointment is probably a credit to England’s defence, particularly man-of-the-match Joe Worsley. The men in white managed to bottle up the Welsh quite effectively, primarily by shutting down the threat of Jamie Roberts in the Centre. (The Welsh management must focus on a ‘plan-b’ for when this happens again, as it surely will now that England have shown the effectiveness of the tactic.)

It would have been interesting to see how Wales would respond to real pressure, a genuine threat to their Grand Slam ambitions, but England were so ill-disciplined at times that the contest was never in doubt. Indeed, England displayed flashes of clever back play and scored two tries to Wales’ one (who’d have thought it?), but the six penalties given away in kickable positions – and another two yellow cards – left Wales in a comfortable position. If England had brought a bit more gumption onto the pitch it could have been a quite different game, but then gumption is something that England don’t seem to have had much of since 2003.

The final game of the weekend saw Ireland travel to Rome. Again, the form book was quite clear and, although the Italians have made huge strides over the last ten years, few people seriously imagined an upset. At least this week Italy decided to include a scrum-half.

The first half was a fascinating contest, with Italy’s aggressive defence putting Ireland under a lot of pressure, leading to the 3 penalties that were to be Italy’s contribution to the scoreline. In between them Ireland benefitted from an interception/breakaway try, but the first quarter really belonged to Italy. From then on Ireland were in control, dominating possession and territory for the rest of the half and eventually carving Italy open.

The second half was a complete mess. Stop-start, injury strewn and just flat; very forgettable. Ireland’s dominance increased and Italy tired, but the scoreline at the end was rather inflated, though perhaps reflecting Ireland’s overall superiority. Most memorable for the bad tackles – including the Italian fullback’s clothes-line job on his opposite number at the very start – and the referee’s inability to get control of the scrums, few will want to buy the DVD of this game.

Italy will take some positives from the first quarter and if they can develop an effective attacking backline could become serious contenders. Ireland will be pleased to have won but will know they have much to work on if they are to challenge Wales, who remain clear favourites for the Championship. The next matches are in two weeks time, when Wales travel to Paris, Ireland entertain England and the Scots will hope that home advantage gives them the edge over Italy.

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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.

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So Eddie O’Sullivan has gone. Certainly pushed, his departure has been dressed up as a resignation, which will benefit all parties. Whatever, at least Ireland can now move on and, hopefully, regain some of the lost ground. Let’s just hope that whoever takes over is given the same level of support and autonomy as O’Sullivan was, and is brave enough to make some sweeping changes.

Over in England, meanwhile, rumours abound. Will Martin Johnson be brought in to the setup as Team Manager? The BBC seem convinced he will. But is this enough? I have great respect for Brian Ashton but I wonder if he is the right man to be leading the coaching team. When one considers what Sir Clive Woodward achieved, or rather how he achieved it, I wonder if a more significant shake-up and approach might be more productive. After all, with the pool of players in England far exceeding that of any other rugby nation, it should be reasonable to expect a lot more in terms of results.

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