Comment: Broken England must be fixed
England left dejected by Ireland defeat
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By Darren Estwick. |  |
Monday, 01, Mar 2010 05:22
By Alex Sinclair
Ever since the inevitable decline in the fortunes of the national XV following their tumultuous and timely achievement in 2003, England have struggled to find any semblance of consistent form. In spite of this, they managed to manufacture an English presence in the following World Cup final in 2007.
Seemingly, then, the national rugby side, in stark contrast to their footballing cousins, is one which saves its best for the big stage. This being the case and if the peaks and troughs of recent history are set to continue, we may well be in for another moment of World Cup glory in a year's time in New Zealand. However, more than perhaps at any moment since humbling Australia in their own backyard in 2003, I just don't see it happening. Why is this most recent crop of players so unaccustomed to winning matches? Why does everything they do as a collective unit seem so desperately lacking? Where is the pride and the passion in the rose?
England 16-20 Ireland
Crucially, there is a distinct lack of leadership, leaders and characters in this England side in comparison to the personnel involved in 2003.
There is also an alarming lack of creativity and palpable lack of conviction, particularly going forward and behind the scrum, so that even if we do win possession nothing good ever comes of it, which is embarrassing for fans and players.
So can this unfortunate state of affairs be rectified... and how?
Clearly the team and the squad need to be given a chance to play together more often. I find myself watching England playing and wondering, often out-loud and aggressively, 'have they ever played together', because the players seem unfamiliar and uncomfortable alongside each other.
England rugby surely needs to recruit a backs coach with a proven record in creative and clinical back-play. Whatever is being rehearsed in training is not being executed on match-day, or if it is, the training sessions are about as creative as a Monday morning meeting at a funeral director's.
Perhaps the management needs to look more closely about who they are selecting as the captain of what is a rather rocking boat.
The captaincy should be given to someone like Lewis Moody who leads from the front and by example. Indeed, for the same reasons, it seems to make sense for the top of the tree to be reshuffled as well.
I think we need to get rid of Johnson as the main coach as the experiment of trying to translate great player to great (or even good) coach hasn't worked and he is clearly too one-dimensional for the intricacies of coaching at this level - there is probably room for him in the set-up but in a supporting role only.
Whispers abound that the Johnson regime centres on intimidating players and imposing a mind-numbingly boring strategy upon the side that simply does not work.
We need a new coach who will believe in the players at our disposal and let them express themselves; the hugely talented Danny Cipriani is an example of a player who has been a victim of the present system and England and her supporters are the losers.
Five minutes from the final whistle at Twickenham on Saturday a rolling maul almost gave England the victory they did not deserve. We didn't get it, once again proving Johnson's team are masters in shooting themselves in the foot.
However, as it's broke, let's try to fix it.