Not there yet
Yesterday the family ate lunch together and then arranged ourselves around our sitting-room sofas to watch Sky Sport’s live coverage of England’s 37-21 (four try) rugby union victory over Australia that brought this years’ set of autumn internationals to a close.
This may count as a statement of rank heresy from a minor dissenting voice but I’m afraid I’m no longer convinced that all is well with the Eddie Jones-orchestrated England campaign that some feel is moving serenely and smoothly along the path to a serious attempt to win the William Webb Ellis trophy at the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.
When you consider the very nature of them, there probably hasn’t been an elite team sport contest in history in which one side has played perfectly from start to finish – to all intents and purposes such a standard is simply impossible when at some point or another the opposition is going to have the ball with attacking intent and then somebody on your team is going to miss a tackle or inadvertently slip on the inconsistent turf to leave a gap in the defensive line.
Of England’s four opponents this term, Fiji were severely depleted in terms of first choice players and woefully under-prepared; as a rugby force South Africa, currently with over three hundred elite players away overseas, is a shadow of its former self, labouring under a cornucopia of self-inflicted wounds and issues from which at the moment there seems no visible means of escape; and meanwhile Argentina were out on their feet, having reached the end of a strength-sapping season in which they amassed a probable world record number of air miles in pursuit of Rugby Championship and other glory.
Okay, you can only beat what is in front of you and, of course, four wins out of four to take you to a total of fourteen consecutive victories in twelve months is not to be sniffed at. For all the generally-professed media admiration for Jones’ predecessor as a hardworking ‘good guy’, at least it’s a huge step up from the below par performances we became used to during the Stuart Lancaster era.
However, yesterday Australia could so easily have won. They came straight out and dominated, racing to a 10-3 lead. For long periods in the first half they were camped inside England’s 22 and had two, possibly three, potential tries rubbed out by the TMO. The moment that got England into the game – Joseph’s first try – was extremely fortuitous, resulting directly from schoolboy errors in the Aussie midfield. To half-time England’s performance had been woeful.
The TMO was also kind to the hosts. To my eyes, watching the repeated video replays on television at home, the decision to award Marland Yarde’s second-half try was wrong because he distinctly knocked the ball on with his left hand before touching down with his right. In the end England won with relative comfort primarily because of the all-round dynamism of Ben Youngs at scrum half and the superior impact of their bench replacements as Australia gradually faded in the last twenty minutes.
Although Eddie Jones is a master manipulator of the media and his coaching credits are impeccable, he is no fool. He’ll be acutely aware that England had a narrow squeak yesterday.
Yes, England have a worrying array of injured absentees at the moment – albeit Maro Ijote returned to action for Saracens yesterday from his broken hand – but as yet they are a long way from the genuine article as RWC contenders.
With Ireland and indeed Scotland in the ascendancy and France running the All Blacks close in their recent encounter, by no means is the 2017 Six Nations a foregone conclusion.
Just saying …
