A New Era for Scotland?

There was at least one Englishman with a smile on his face Saturday night, although he was quite some distance away from the gloom of HQ. With the skirl of bagpipes from the rooftop lone piper still ringing in the ears of the crowd, the men from Murrayfield became the first Home nation to defeat a major southern hemisphere touring side this season. In an epic display of Celtic tenacity and defence, Andy Robinson did what a long line of Scottish coaches –even the great Ian McGeechan- had failed to do in twenty seven years. Scotland had beaten Australia.

Andy Robinson: 9 reasons to be cheerful.

Scotland has been kind to Andy Robinson. Since his dismissal from the England top job and the resulting ritual sacrifice in the media, he has been able to re-launch his coaching career north of the border with remarkable success; first by turning perennial Magners league underachievers Edinburgh into a potent force, and now with the national side. He has galvanised the Scottish team into realising their potential after reaching a plateau under Frank Hadden. This performance against Australia should become the benchmark for his men in the six nations. Robinson and his coaching team, most notably defence guru Graham Steadman, have made Scotland a force to be respected, if not yet feared.

There is still some way to go for the Saltire, especially in attack. Scotland still lack clarity in offence once the ball is taken away from the pack, who seem to be able to punch holes at will in close quarters. The centres, whilst immense in defence didn’t offer much more than the traditional crash ball and Scotland need the distributors in midfield to unleash the back three, be that the Lamont brothers or the promising pacy youngster Thom Evans. Finally Phil Godman has risen to become the marshal Scotland need and never again should we see Dan Parks in a navy blue jersey. With both Godman and Patterson pretty adept at slotting goals and penalties, Scotland are pretty much guaranteed nine points a match.  Scrum half Chris Cussiter is thriving on the ball he is getting from his forwards and has a tremendous work ethic; his concussion early in the first half no doubt negated Scotland’s attacking options somewhat.  Let us now look at the pack and marvel at the return of quick and clean ruck ball. Traditionally, the Scots have always played a rucking game that relied on the quality of ball delivered to the backs and for several seasons they have struggled to achieve this. Messrs Hines, Kellock and Strokosch et al have worked manfully to reproduce this staple of Scottish play of years gone by and we may just see some excellent running rugby if Andy Robinson can get the right mix behind the eight. The lineout is beginning to take shape too, with veteran Nathan Hines displaying great tactical nous. Allan Jacobson is the cornerstone of frankly massive tight five that should evolve with the return from injury of Euan Murray into a scrum that should mince Ireland and be a thorn in the side of France, England and Wales come February.

And now to defence, where this Scotland side shone in the darkness of Edinburgh. Even when Australia crossed the home sides try line, which was inevitable given the almost total possession the wallabies enjoyed, the feisty Scots refused to say die, twice holding up would be try scorers. Such was the aggression in the Scottish defence that Australia began to play a slow, pick-and-go game-plan that played into Scotland’s hands perfectly and thus negated any momentum Giteau and Cooper could generate. Time and time again Australia were repelled. The Wallabies were shocked by the aggression that they faced and several times simply made the wrong decision under pressure; consider the wayward miss pass Quade Cooper threw that was deemed forward when a simple draw-and-give would have done. Even Matt Giteau’s wayward kicking can be directly attributed to the special attention he received during the match. Getting smashed into the grass every time you touch the ball can affect one’s composure somewhat.  Make no mistake, defence wins games.

Scotland did the impossible on Saturday, and they have given the long suffering Scottish rugby public something to believe in, even if it is only an almost unbreakable defensive line at the moment. Andy Robinson needs now to build an adventurous attack in the run up to the Six Nations and, perhaps, Scotland can rise to be that nation again.

The Buck Stops Here

Lewis Moody: The Man who Should be Captain

Five things that England must do to prevent the fall of English rugby and a rout at the hands of the All Blacks.

 

1.       Attack is the best form of defence.  The old military adage is true. For too long, English rugby has been dominated by stifling defences and the kick-tennis tactics used in an attempt to unlock them.  England have become so terrified of making mistakes in attack, that they have forgotten how to play proactive rugby. Changes must come to find places for attacking players; Simon Shaw and Courtney Lawes must start in the engine room, Shane Geraghty needs to be given carte blanche to call the shots when England have the ball and Ben Foden has to start at full back. Players who are willing to have a go like Steffon Armitage, Alex Goode and Chris Ashton need to be found places on the bench. 

2.       Cancel training and get on it. 

Well, maybe a round of pub golf isn’t the best way to prepare for a heated battle against the men in black, but the principal remains the same. After weeks on the training paddock and the gym, England failed to break down Australia and stuttered against Argentina. The EPS has put in the hard yards and gotten nowhere, the boys need to lighten the mood and rediscover their joie de vivre; perhaps more ten-pin bowling than triple gin and lemonades, though.

3.       Lewis Moody for Captain          Is Steve Borthwick really the best man to lead England? In my eyes, he isn’t even one of England’s in form lock forwards, let alone the man the Red Rose need to save a faltering game. My solution would be to fabricate some injury to Mr Borthwick, bring in Simon Shaw and Courtney Lawes and put Nick Kennedy on the bench. This way, the Saracens second row doesn’t lose too much face. Lewis Moody is the stand alone performer of the test series so far and there would be no finer man to take up the mantle of captain.

 

4.       Stop the slide at Premiership Level

Warren Gatland was right; the Guinness Premiership is becoming dull. How can the players be expected to play attacking, total rugby when their clubs are almost exclusively focussed on low risk, territorial rugby? The England management needs to meet with the Premiership DoR’s and warn them that English rugby is heading nowhere unless something drastic changes. Show them the highlights of the summers Lions tour and invite them to create a similar brand of rugby. There are seeds of hope, however; both Saracens and Leicester have demonstrated against South Africa that they can play enterprising rugby.

5. Prepare the way for 2011 now   

Except that filling the EPS with men approaching the end of their test careers is only going to shore England up in the short term. It is time to start playing the talented future. In case you missed it earlier in this article, Courtney Lawes should be brought in alongside Simon Shaw. Lawes might only last sixty minutes, but he will flourish under the wing of Simon Shaw and will add to the evergreen lock’s shelf-life. Senior players should be picked on what they can offer to support the next generation, not on past glories and perceived reputations. Alex Corbisaro, Noah Cato, Alex Goode, and Matthew Tait; these are the names that should shape England into the future.

Andy Farrell: Because He Deserves a Tribute

It was four years too late to see his best.

The most maligned man in English rugby union for a period in 2007, Andy Farrell was not to blame for his near-disastrous start to his union career. A car accident followed by a toe-injury kept us from seeing anything of Farrell  fully fit for nearly 18 months after his transfer, and then no-one knew what to do with the man with one of the most complete skill sets in either code. He had not the time on his side to adjust to the demands of being a world class 7 nor the speed of his younger days to be an inside back.

Those who had never seen him frequently passed judgement, writing him off as another league failure when in reality his move occurred just too late in his career. For those that saw the Wiganer play in his prime, it is obvious that had Farrell made the code switch in the late nineties he would have walked into the England team and played pretty much anywhere he wanted other than the front row or wing. He was that good; Wigan captain at 18, GB captain at 21, 2 time Man of Steel, and the Golden Boot for the best player in the world the season before he switched codes. He turned out to be a decent player for Saracens at premiership level in the end, but it is for memories like this that I best remember Andy Farrell OBE.

Not even big Samoan Dom Feaunati wants anything to do with Faz after he has tasted one of his right hooks.

A Case for the Defence

Inga 's abrasive defence would have been prohibited.

We all know the stereotype, free-thinking, attack-minded and immensely skilful but it is the brutish defence of the south sea islanders which has been constantly called into question both by the media and the games’ administrators since the dawn of professionalism. Sky Sports Stuart Barnes even said “People don’t like me saying it but south sea islanders have a real problem with their tackling” and the problem is undoubtedly through the reputations of notorious hitters such as Viliame “The Stretcher” Satala and Brian “The Chiropractor” Lima, all Fijians, Tongans and Samoans are looked upon immediately with suspicion.

This is not for a moment to suggest that they are all innocent by any means, it being almost ingrained within the culture that the technique used is a rugby-league style shoulder hit. In this age of safety paramount refereeing, this inevitably nearly always leads to a penalty and yellow card simply because there is so much force behind the hit the player in question cannot wrap the arms, see  Palu v Ireland.

In terms of not making any attempt to get the arms round, the Tuilagi family are legendary but I for one do not see how not wrapping the arms in the tackle makes such a great difference in the outcome (of the tackle), compared to the scourge of cynical late or early tackles off the ball.

I raise this issue on the back of a weekends’ play which saw Samoa full-back Lolo Lui yellow carded for a borderline late tackle to which he was already committed, which consequently cost Samoa a famous victory over Wales. And there was the aforementioned yellow for Palu, which cost Australia a grand slam, for a legal hit. This is an easy punishment for the referees to give out whilst they continue to ignore the desperate troubles at scrum time, and would suggest a change of IRB policy was in order.

The ability to effect match-turning tackles is one almost particular to Pacific Island players however I’m in no doubt this its one that will be lost not long from now. As one friend said, “Inga (Tuigamala) would’ve been binned every week if he was playing now”. To legislate against dangerous tackling is one thing but outlawing a core skill is a travesty which rugby would be a lot less entertaining for.

Argentina Look to Avoid the Biggest Banana Skin in the Game

Cry for him Argentina?

Yes indeed this is how far the mighty have fallen, the greatest captain the nation has ever had unable to do anything to arrest the slide other than scowl as his side stagger around  like a drunk in the dark in search of a light switch.

I hope the drunk does find that light switch because he may be able to shed some light on how when with London Irish, Brian Smith was all things to all men but since the start of his tenure as the national backs coach, the midfield as a unit has been pedestrian at best, Delon Armitage and Riki Flutey excluded. However, he’s by no means the only one who should have be outraged at last weeks perfomance.

Even a superb all-action performance from Jonny Wilkinson on his return only managed to limit the damage as Australia were at least 30 points better than England on the day. The Wallabies themselves were shorn of their first choice midfield pairing of Berrick Barnes and Stirling Mortlock and leading second row light, Nathan Sharpe. In attack they were light years ahead of England, and I know I’m not the only one that was watching with my hand over my face as England tried repeatedly to set a record for the slowest possible speed that it is humanly possible to take the ball into contact from 1st receiver. It was beyond embarrassing for Johnson and his band of not-so-merry men. Surely they do not practice lying down at least 5 men in a ruck against 1 opponent before Danny Care looks around as if searching for the meaning of life, the universe and everything whilst simultaneously waving more men into the momentum black hole that the breakdown has become?

Injuries are cited and acknowledged as a mitigating factor yet no England side has shown any evidence of any gameplan to date. This is why the injuries are largely irrelevant to Englands travails, for instance to replace Nick Easter with Jordan Crane is regressive and changes how the team plays.

If performance is the barometer of the work being done at Pennyhill Park then all the coaches are in indictable but for a selection that smacks of an attritional defensive and unashamedly Leicester-like outlook, Jonno must carry the can. I have yet to see anything in the career of Steve Borthwick that suggests he will ever be up to it at this level let alone Louis Deacon who is a less talented carbon-copy. What Jonno seems to have forgotten is that in addition to their England players Leicester also have quality overseas imports such as Geordan Murphy, Aaron Mauger and Scott Hamilton to add the chords to the forwards’ thud and rumble that they rely upon.

Deja Vu? The last time the Pumas set foot inside HQ.

Further forward it is essential that either of the seasoned pair of David Flatman or Perry Freshwater are sent for immediately as a must-win game against the fearsome Puma pack is not the place to send a player with 4 games of top-flight experience. In private I imagine the Pumas coach Santiago Phelan is licking his lips in anticipation of the destruction his forwards will unleash on what is forecast to be a wet and windy HQ, their hosts devoid of all the answers and a lot of the questions as well.

It is the tourists 10/12 channels that is their concern, with injuries to the mercurial Juan Martin Hernandez and Felipe Contepomi glaring problems. Considering who England have lining up at 10,  a lot of organisational responsibility rests on the shoulders of Gonzalo Tiesi, the Quins outside-centre who has genuine quality. In Rodrigo Roncero, Patricio Albacete and Juan Martin Fernandez-Lobbe they have 3 players who would get into any team in the world. The fact that Marcos Ayerza is only a substitute is a clear demonstration of their strength up front.

It is a testament to the improvement of the Pumas and the work of men such as Gus Pichot off the field, that they enter this game with every chance of walking away with a victory. This time just don’t expect to see any histrionics after the final whistle, they have every right to expect to win. What may weigh heavily on Johnson’s mind tonight is that a home defeat v the Pumas did for one head coach in Andy Robinson in 2006 and they could well see off another one tomorrow. Unless Johnson and his brains trust can find something that has been sorely lacking in the last year they might do just that.