Long Black Clouds hang over England Tour

By Brian Dick on Jun 23, 08 11:41 AM in

There have been some pretty harsh things written about the England players and management during the tour to New Zealand, described in various national newspapers as disastrous, calamitous and disgraceful - in some cases all three.
I will leave the off-field shenanigans to those who know more about the circumstances of the alleged incident. My only comment is that it will be sad if through a combination of the cult of celebrity and their own inability to deal with the attendant fame, rugby players go the same way as footballers and become front page fodder.
On the field England were beaten twice - and soundly. The concession of nine tries and very little idea about how to attack the All Blacks is a pretty damning indictment of the current coaching regime.

It's all very well 'building from the back' as it were but if a side has done that, there is no way they should be leaking scores off first phase. Dummy runners are not a new phenomenon and international midfields should be well able to cope yet Daniel Carter was given the freedom of Christchurch last Saturday.
Because all they have talked about is defence, England were holed below the water line from the outset.
As a result their work with ball in hand has been laughably poor. Only one of the four tries they scored in the series - Tom Varndell's consolation effort in the Second Test, could be described as coming from anything other than scraps.
They spent most of that match launching up and unders at one of the most dangerous threequarter lines in world rugby in which Leon Macdonald suggested he could be the best full back in the world.
The logic is remarkable. Expend huge amounts of time and energy trying to get the ball, then kick it straight back to your opponent in the hope they drop it.
In an attacking sense all we had to be thankful for was the odd moment or two of individual flair. Did we really need to go to the far end of the earth to find out Mathew Tait is a good broken field runner and that Topsy Ojo can return an interception.
As a result the centre pairing of Jamie Noon - played out of position mind, and Mike Tindall looked exactly what it was. Creatively moribund plodders. It's time to put Tindall at inside and go with James Simpson Daniel at 13. Tindall does not have the pace to play outside but he does have the physicality and experience to steady a creaking ship.
The one positive was the back row. Tom Rees looked surprisingly authentic as a nose to the ground international openside. James Haskell was about the only Englishman who beat his opposite number and Luke Narraway showed good poise and athleticism under extreme pressure. These three should be persevered with and indulged the odd bad game.
The same cannot be said of the coaches. Rob Andrew was thrust into the foreground by the sacking of Brian Ashton and he clearly didn't have time or the mandate to stamp his mark on the side.
That effectively left the team run by Mike Ford - the hapless defence coach and John Wells, whose rugby philosophies were developed in the conservative, forward oriented days of mid 90s Welford Road.
Andrew will cede stewardship of the team to Martin Johnson on July 1 and what the new manager must do is pick a set of coaches with whom he wants to work, not be made to operate with those under contract.
If that means bringing back Brian Ashton as an attack coach, retaining Wells or even returning to Dave Alred as kicking mentor, then that's what must be done. Johnson must be allowed to pick his own staff in the way he will pick his own team. Anything less and yet another year goes slipping by.