Wales 16-21 England
Last night signalled
the start of the 2015 Six Nations, and what a match it was to behold!
Bar the first 15 minutes, it was a closely fought battle that pushed
all of the players to their physical limits. Wales looked to storm
ahead in the first 20 minutes, building up a 10-0 lead, but England
chipped away at it and the half-time score was 16-8. The second half,
however, was a different story entirely – England came out and
absolutely stunned Wales with their intensity and physicality. Wales
just could not temper it, and England grabbed what will go down as a
famous 16-21 victory! Here is my take on the lessons to be learned from the match as well as on certain players from both of
the teams that clashed last night.
First thing's first,
the most important lesson that all of us English fans were taught
over the course of last night – never underestimate, or doubt, that
your team can go out and win. Many people, English fans included,
wrote England off before they had even taken to the field, and that
is not exactly going to inspire confidence in our national team.
People seem to forget that rugby (and sport in general) is an
unpredictable beast, anything can happen, and that the underdog tag
can actually work in the best interest's of a team. Yes, England were
not the favourites, but the team that we put out was always more than
capable of coming away with a win, regardless of their injury
problems and the fact that we were playing away in Cardiff. All of
the team put in epic shifts, with not one of the players putting in a
bad performance, and the fact that people honestly thought we were
going to get completely done over suggests that England fans need to
start believing more. England are the 4th best team in the
world, above Wales who are currently 6th in the World
Rugby Rankings. Yet, only a small minority thought that we could do
it. Why? It's time people had more pride in their team, especially
when they are as good as they were last night.
One other massively
important point that needs to be made is that the new concussion
protocols are clearly not working. Everybody that watched the match last night expressed concern over the handling of George North and
the clear concussion that he sustained in the second half, where he
was out cold before he even hit the ground. But he didn't go off to
get checked, like he had earlier on in the match (him coming back on itself was
a dubious decision, but at least he was actually assessed). That is a disgrace, plain and simple. It cannot happen in this
day and age where we have all of the medical knowledge we need to
ensure that players are well looked after. Player welfare is
everything in a sport as physical as rugby, where a career-ending or
even life-threatening injury can occur at any moment. There have been
a lot of calls recently for independent doctors to assess players
that leave the field under the concussion protocol, and after last
night this seems like a very good idea. North should never have been
allowed to come back on after the first incident – he was clearly
not fit to play. But after the second incident it was plain to
everyone that he was not right; he looked unsteady on his feet, and
every time he got the ball he either dropped or fumbled when trying to make metres. The handling of George North's head injuries was utterly wrong, and is
not acceptable in any sport. Something has got to change, and now.
Luther Burrell and
Jonathan Joseph – not soft. They made an awesome pairing at inside
and outside centre, and there was a plethora of talent on show from
the both of them throughout the whole match. I have been an advocate
of the two of them as a centre partnership for a while now, and they
absolutely demonstrated why last night. Burrell was a menace for the
Welsh defence, smashing his way into tackle after tackle to put
England on the front foot. Joseph was simply superb in every way, and
his try was absolutely sublime after he effortlessly side-stepped a George North tackle. It's not every day that you manage to
get past George North as easily as JJ did. They took most people by
surprise with just how well they played when coming up against two
giants in Jamie Roberts and Jonathan Davies, and they
came out on top against two very experienced Welsh players. For a newly formed duo, they completely took it in
their stride and I can see many more successful performances coming
for Luther and Jonathan.
Leigh Halfpenny was
Wales' light in the dark last night. He exudes talent in everything
he does, and his kicking was predominantly on point as usual (albeit
the one miss over the course of the match). Under the high ball he
was phenomenal, consistently chasing after them and winning the
contest more often than not. As already mentioned, his kicking was
another highlight of his performance. It just goes to show how good a
player is when people are shocked that they miss just one kick out
of all attempts at goal. Madness, but that is how good Leigh was.
Speaking of kickers, Dan Biggar had a fairly successful game last
night, particularly his drop goal just before half-time to give them an 8 point lead at the break, and his partnership with Rhys Webb is flourishing. They are
both clearly in tune with how the other likes to play, and this means
that they can effectively execute their game plan. Despite the fact
that Wales did not win, in the first half their game plan worked very
effectively and it is a sign that, when they are playing their
absolute best, they can win any match. Unfortunately, the game plan
seemed to fall apart in the second half as England came out very
strong and with a lot of intensity – Wales just did not seem to
know how to handle this, and England exploited that to their
advantage.
George Ford did not, in
my personal opinion, put in his best performance last night. I
know that he was awarded Man of the Match, but I also know that
a lot of people were confused by this decision. He missed five points last night and, whilst we went on
to win the match, this is not acceptable at international level. It
has been mentioned time and time again that he seems to buckle under
intense pressure, and that is what happened. Added to the fact that
he was charged down twice as well as being too soft in defence, and
George is not quite mentally or physically ready for the intensity that playing for
England brings. But again, this is my opinion and I understand that
not everyone will share it. I was disappointed that Cipriani was not
given any time on the pitch, but I have never and will never see eye
to eye with Lancaster on his substitution decisions. It feels to me
like Lancaster believes players HAVE to be substituted somewhere
between 50 and 60 minutes, whereas in reality you are supposed to
base your decisions on how the match is going and not by how much
time has passed. His subbing of two of the the front row on 54
minutes screamed premature, and shockingly enough the first scrum
with the fresh players collapsed immediately. Why make changes when
those already on the pitch are entirely dominant?
Wales' scrum on the
other hand did not go well. Gethin Jenkins in particular was under
pressure from the very beginning, and this was increasingly evident when
England won two penalties against the head. Dan Cole, however, put in a simply
stunning performance throughout the match last night, and I am more
than happy to admit I was wrong about him – his limited game time
previous to last night had me worried in terms of how well he would
be able to handle the ferocious encounter that we all expected.
However, he absolutely took it in his stride and showed everybody
that he was more than ready to be in that squad, and that he
thoroughly deserved the spot that Lancaster had given him. We also
got to see Kieran Brookes, who did a sterling job considering he was
replacing the mighty Cole. He looks to be a great prospect for England coming up
to the World Cup, and it is exciting to see what more he can do in
the future. Speaking of me being happy to admit I was wrong – Billy
Twelvetrees. He was crazy good when he came off the bench last night,
demonstrating those sparks of excellence that we rarely get to see.
Yes, we were winning when he came on to the field, but I honestly
believe that the penalty he won us with his great defence secured us
victory by allowing Ford to knock over an extra three points and take
all of the impetus away from Wales for the last minutes of the game.
It is appearances like that where we finally get to appreciate why
Lancaster continues to select him. We need to see this from Billy a
lot more, however, as it's okay to do one good thing in one match,
but if he slips back in to his shady form for England that we have
seen in the past the debate on his inclusion will resurface quickly and fiercely.
There has also been
considerable debate surrounding Nick Easter's return to the England
squad. I'm not sure that he had a great game yesterday, he didn't
bring anything to the team when he came on. However, he was a
substitution and it is a slightly unfair expectation for him to come
on and change the game, especially when we were playing so well. He
did make one mistake though, his crossing, that led to an England try
being disallowed. Whilst this ultimately did not matter, it could
have, and would have given impetus to those that think he is too old
to have had his international career re-ignited. Luke Charteris on the
other hand caught my eye very quickly when he was brought on. He
threw himself into Wales' defensive effort, and tried very hard to
help stop England attacking. On the whole, the substitutions for both
teams made no real difference, with the exception of Twelvetrees, as
both starting teams played well – Wales in the first half particularly, England
in the second.
Dylan Hartley. I
refrained from talking about him in my previous post as I know his
inclusion is a contentious issue. But I came to the realisation that
this is, after all, my blog and I shouldn't feel pushed into not
saying what I want to say. So here it is: Hartley absolutely should
have been selected. Feel free to disagree if you want, but one
comment that I heard on the BBC coverage last night sums up why:
statistically, Dyls has the best line-out in the world. That's right
– the world. On what planet do you not want essentially the best
hooker around playing for your country? I get that some people will
never be big fans of his, but you're supporting England as a whole team –
no one is asking you to support Hartley alone. Whether you like it or
not, Hartley is an amazing player. Yes, he does get a bit 'hot
headed' on the field, but he gives it his all and you can see just
how much he loves to play rugby. His performance in both the line-out
and scrum yesterday was phenomenal, and England need him in the squad
if they want to win matches. It really is as simple as that in my
mind.
Lastly, I have to
mention The Hask. He was my Man of the Match yesterday, and a lot of
people concur with that view. He was on fire for England, his
defensive work was incredible, and his attacking wasn't too bad
either. His 'almost try' will stick in the memory for a long time,
mainly because he did run head first into the padding around the goal
posts. Either way, his break through the Wales defence was seriously
good. Tom Wood's injury allowed Haskell to get a starting position,
and he made good use of the opportunity, showing everyone exactly why
Wasps have come alive this season and shown glimpses of the trophy
winning side we once saw. Simply, he was a menace on the field for
the whole match, and was our clear outstanding player amongst a team
of men that played superbly to get the win. I do not think anyone will be
underestimating, or not believing in, England again!
So there you have it –
England won! It was a breathtaking match, and that second half
performance from England was the best I have seen them play in a long while. Considering the team was fairly young and new, it was a spectacular effort from England to beat Wales at the Millennium Stadium. I
saw on Twitter before the match a little debate going about how many
players from each team you would pick if you were to have an XV
compromised of players just from Wales and England. Most everyone
that got involved said they would pick only a couple, with a lot of
people actually saying none. I have to say that would not be the case
now; if I had to select England players for an XV based on the teams
I would probably pick 6 – Hartley, Cole, Haskell, B Vunipola,
Burrell and Joseph. It is testament to the team that they gave England fans something to be really really proud about. Well done to all of the lads, you were all amazing.
Bring on the rest of
the 6 Nations!
Jess.
No comments:
Post a Comment