Sports After Dark

After losing both matches in their short tour to New Zealand, England rugby shown that the gulf between the north and south, which was closed with such authority at the World Cup, is back and wider than ever.

England’s best chance in the series came in the second test in Christchurch where the All Blacks lost two of their most senior forwards, Ali Williams and captain Richie McCaw, to injury before half time, but instead the English continued with the uninspired tactics and were totally outclassed.

Kicking for field position is an age old tactic in rugby, and with a dominant forward pack it can completely shut down an opponent, but when the kicks are aimless and the forwards going backwards, it would seem time to change the tactic. England, it would seem, lacked a plan B, resorting to one off runs that were caught behind the advantage line all to often.

Much vaunted prop Andy Sheridan did very little in the Eden Park test, aside from getting sin binned, while his propping partner Matt Stevens was given a torrid time by Neemia Tialata and Tony Woodcock. In fact the England scrum was not the dominant weapon the English had hoped it would be, as once again the All Blacks gave the men in white a lesson in scrum technique.

If the scrum was a weakness for England, their midfield defence was a complete disaster with Olly Barkley, Jamie Noon and Mike Tindall unable to contain the power and speed of Ma’a Nonu, Conrad Smith and Richard Kahui. Tindall’s only contribution to both test matches was a yellow card in each, although he did look good as Smith and Nonu powered past him.

Actually crossing the line proved to be a problem for England, scoring just four tries in two test matches and three of those were opportunistic efforts, with only Tom Varndell’s effort being the result of a strong build up.

The difference between Northern and Southern Hemisphere referees was also evident, as Welshman Nigel Owen allowed England to dive off their feet at the ruck, sealing the ball off as seems to be the northern tactic, while South African Jonathan Kaplan penalised England repeatedly for the same thing.

The question for in-coming coach Martin Johnson must now be, where to from here as he inherits a team which has been so thoroughly outplayed in this test series. The areas that were thought to be strengths have been exposed as weaknesses, and the weaknesses ruthlessly exploited for all to see.

Similar Posts:

• The contenders’ keys to victory: Australia
• Australia vs England 1 Innings Break
• Keys to victory: The dark horses
• Somerville looking good for World Cup return
• Travel a major factor in All Blacks’ loss

The England left to wonder after unsuccessful tour of New Zealand by Hamish McBrearty, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.