28 points to 9, on paper it reads as a fairly comfortable winning margin, however in reality England didn't secure the victory in the most convincing of fashions. Whilst I will never, ever fault the work rate or intention of our England rugby side I must say that there were still elements of the performance that lacked the precision and the execution that we expect from an English International side. Positive I always am however a realist I must also be.
Against New Zealand and South
Africa some of England’s problems in the area of cleanly executing a game plan could,
in part, be blamed on the strength of the opposition however with the utmost
respect to the physical Samoans the All Blacks and Boks are on a different
level. At Twickenham England should have put more points on the board for they left
chances out on the field and chances that were not ground breaking or anything
that they shouldn’t easily convert into seven points. In my opinion we witnessed at
least 40 minutes, maybe even more, of what can only be described as ‘trying
too hard’. The dropped balls, the passes that halted the momentum in attack and
the soft penalties that were given away, all were due to a side that knows that they aren’t
singing and knows that they must and fast. Chris Robshaw’s assessment following
the game summed things up well; ‘We were a little bit loose with the ball, it
was greasy and it went wide a little bit early instead of punching up the guts. However we got the win; first and foremost, the kicking options were a lot better and certainly
our exits getting out of our own half although there was a little bit of
confusion at certain points in the game.’
Once again at scrum time England
delivered, the forwards came to the party and shook things up nicely whether it
was a Marler, Webber and Wilson combination or a Mullan, Hartley and Brookes
one. Outside of them was Mr George Ford, having waited so patiently for his first complete eighty minutes in an England jersey he delivered on all counts. His distribution, vision and his full court
kicking game turns heads as well as the way in which he shrugged off the largest hit of the day as if it was
nothing more than an unwanted cuddle. The Farrell Ford partnership I think still has some question marks
over it, let’s not forget Farrell isn’t accustomed to the 12 jersey and that it was their first outing together. Interestingly George Ford said to us in the media interviews after the game that the information that he gained from both Owen and Brad were instrumental on the field particularly in terms of the tries that he facilitated. That
is the type of insight that you and I can’t see through our own eyes or on the TV
screens. I, like everyone else, will be
intrigued to see what selection choices are made at in the centre and at fly half for next weekend’s almighty test against the Wallabies.
Ultimately as cliché as it sounds
I must state plain and simply that a win is a win and after five losses on the bounce that is a relief. Yes, you may knock me for saying that
however we all would be fuming if the full time score sheet was flipped and England hadn't delivered the victory. Ultimately, like a broken record, I will repeat the words that I stated prior to this test match; England must
take things up a gear and they must improve their performance levels if they are to even entertain the thought of gaining
that psychological boosting win over Australia next weekend.
Great solidarity shown after the game between England and Samoa
