We need action, not words, England
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WITH the second game and a second victory, it seems that all is well in the England garden. But sadly that is far from the truth with England pulling off another hard earned win against opposition they should really have dominated.
In both the games against Italy and Wales, England have had to lift their game and fight back from a half-time deficit. Yes, last weekend they had an excuse with two players being yellow carded in the early stages of the game, unlike during the game against Italy where they were simply overwhelmed by the Italians' attacking play in the early stages of the game.
As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, I was expecting England to win against both Italy and Wales, but in truth I wasn't expecting the scores to be so close and I had hoped that the players would have grabbed the chance to show how this team can and want to play.
A lot has been said by the new England captain Jamie George about how the players want to fill the crowd at Twickenham with enthusiasm for the team by being more entertaining after the booing that occurred in the World Cup warm up games and during the last Six Nations.
Unfortunately, his words have not transferred down to the actions of the players on the pitch, with really long delays created when forming scrums and lineouts.
The current England team seem to gather metres away from where the mark for a set-piece is made and also have discussions before walking to the set-piece whether it be the scrum or lineout. They again slow the game during the execution of the lineouts by involving a number of players changing positions before the ball is thrown in. I have to be honest and say I cannot remember the laws of the lineout being altered to allow players to leave or change position in the lineout once it has been formed.
This was so apparent in last week's game that the crowd were whistling and booing again as yet another break in play occurred.
Rugby used to be a game played by two teams of 15 players who stayed on the field for the whole game lasting 80 minutes, with a short break for half-time with substitutes only allowed to go on the pitch for injuries that effectively stopped a player from being able to continue.
Now, there are breaks in play for water, with virtually half a team of replacement players who can come on at any time during the game chosen by the team manager.
All this should make for a faster and more intense game, keeping the crowd on the edge of their seats but instead we have a game that is sadly boring to spectators, hence all the booing that happens now, despite skipper George wanting players to entertain the crowd.
I have to say that when I was playing the crowd were irrelevant, with me and my team-mates' only concern to beat our opposite number and winning the game. In other words, the most important thing for us as players was to win the match no matter how and to be honest that was all the fans wanted as well.
When I go to watch a game I want to see the team that have a game plan and stick to it and also adapt their game to how their opponents play.
England are not doing that at the moment but are still managing to win which I suppose ultimately is all that matters in any sporting competition. The question is, how many more times will they be able to turn a game around to come away as winners?
Next up are Scotland and their head coach Gregor Townsend was up in arms about a try which according to the referee and the TMO never was, and wanting World Rugby to overturn the result that saw France narrowly win.
The game was virtually at an end with France leading 20-16 when Sam Skinner thought he scored a winning try, but it was denied by the TMO and the referee as it wasn't conclusive that the ball was grounded properly to enable the try to be awarded.
If only there had been a TMO back in 1990 when Tony Stanger failed to touch down the ball, below, but was given the try that gave Scotland the Grand Slam win over us.
Here I am 34 years later and I still can't get over the fact that the try was given when Stanger himself knew he never scored – but with the rest of his teammates jumping for joy the referee signalled the try and he then just walked away.
There are a number of videos on social media that show Stanger failing to ground the ball and in fact losing hand contact with the ball as he slides to the ground.
I can't help wondering that if Scotland do succeed in getting a review of their game and manage to overturn the French victory, whether or not we can ask for a review of the result that would have made the England team I played for the only side in the history of our game to claim three successive Grand Slams… but somehow I doubt it!
