There was an interesting short piece at the end of tonight's BBC coverage of the Spain v Portugal second round match, about the often overlooked link between South Africa and English football lore. The famous Kop end at Anfield, actually one of many stands at football grounds around the country with that name, was named after the site of a battle in the Boer War.
The segment, presented by Mark Lawrenson, provided a rather sudden change in tone from the fairly light-hearted coverage of the match itself, but was rather poignant and very informative, and is well worth watching whilst it is on the iPlayer.
Tuesday 29 June 2010
Thursday 17 June 2010
Rugby: England's Video Nasty
The England squad have been refreshingly honest in their assessment of their own performance against Australia in the first test last Saturday, with Steve Thompson acknowledging that the side became too preoccupied with their dominance in the scrum, whilst their work in open play was substandard.
Toby Flood has joined in the self-flagellation, admitting that the team's video analysis session had forced the players to own up to their weak performances. However, it is one thing to recognise a bad performance, and another to fix it, and no player has more to learn from last Saturday's test match than Flood himself.
Flood needs to impose his authority on the second test
Flood's abdication of responsibility at key stages of the game was alarming. Late in the first half, with England fruitlessly pounding at the Australian defence with pick and drive tactics, the forwards were allowed to keep the ball for phase after phase, despite their being driven backwards on several occasions. At no stage did Flood appear to demand the ball from Danny Care, his scrum half, or if he did, Care ignored him, which would reflect badly on both players. After perhaps a dozen ineffective drives, the ball finally went to Flood, only for him to immediately pass it back inside, back into the traffic of the Australian pack, and the whole cycle began again.
Early in the second half, England produced their one piece of flowing rugby, as a counter attack from Ben Foden went through the hands of Chris Ashton and Simon Shaw, before Mike Tindall was pulled down just short of the line. This was a perfect situation for England to score a try, the Australian defence was still rushing back into position, and the ball was only yards from the line. However, several phases later, it became clear that England only had two tactics: pick and drive, or crash ball from a forward standing at first receiver. Flood did not touch the ball throughout the entire attack, lasting several minutes. At one stage the camera pulled back to reveal that he was standing at inside centre, with a forward at fly-half waiting for the next crash ball. As an international fly-half, he should have been the playmaker, demanding the ball, demanding that the side play off him, whether it be crash ball, or going down the line to the backs.
These two episodes typified the way the entire game was played by England, never trusting the backs, never thinking about the game, never showing smart leadership as opposed to blood and guts-style leadership. The latter is simply not enough at the highest level.
Cooper showed impressive confidence in his first test performance
Much of this is obviously down to tactics, and the coaching staff are to blame for a one-dimensional game plan, whilst the players must take responsibility for their inability to play with their heads up, and their blinkered belief that all they needed to do was to keep pounding away. But if Flood is being constrained by the tactics, then he should take control of the situation, everything Australia did on Saturday, they did through Quade Cooper, their fair less experienced fly-half. Care was undoubtedly part of the problem: his slow service and lack of tactical nous was shown up by the way that Ben Youngs greatly increased the tempo when he came on, but again, it is up to his fly-half to tell Care what service he wants, and to make sure he gets it.
If Flood is going to be the long term solution at fly-half, he must take responsibility for the way the game is played, he must want the ball, especially with the try line begging. Watch good international fly-halves and they show the confidence and sometimes the arrogance to demand the ball and to try and make things happen. Last Saturday, Toby Flood seemed frozen, too meek to even try.
Toby Flood has joined in the self-flagellation, admitting that the team's video analysis session had forced the players to own up to their weak performances. However, it is one thing to recognise a bad performance, and another to fix it, and no player has more to learn from last Saturday's test match than Flood himself.
Flood needs to impose his authority on the second test
Flood's abdication of responsibility at key stages of the game was alarming. Late in the first half, with England fruitlessly pounding at the Australian defence with pick and drive tactics, the forwards were allowed to keep the ball for phase after phase, despite their being driven backwards on several occasions. At no stage did Flood appear to demand the ball from Danny Care, his scrum half, or if he did, Care ignored him, which would reflect badly on both players. After perhaps a dozen ineffective drives, the ball finally went to Flood, only for him to immediately pass it back inside, back into the traffic of the Australian pack, and the whole cycle began again.
Early in the second half, England produced their one piece of flowing rugby, as a counter attack from Ben Foden went through the hands of Chris Ashton and Simon Shaw, before Mike Tindall was pulled down just short of the line. This was a perfect situation for England to score a try, the Australian defence was still rushing back into position, and the ball was only yards from the line. However, several phases later, it became clear that England only had two tactics: pick and drive, or crash ball from a forward standing at first receiver. Flood did not touch the ball throughout the entire attack, lasting several minutes. At one stage the camera pulled back to reveal that he was standing at inside centre, with a forward at fly-half waiting for the next crash ball. As an international fly-half, he should have been the playmaker, demanding the ball, demanding that the side play off him, whether it be crash ball, or going down the line to the backs.
These two episodes typified the way the entire game was played by England, never trusting the backs, never thinking about the game, never showing smart leadership as opposed to blood and guts-style leadership. The latter is simply not enough at the highest level.
Cooper showed impressive confidence in his first test performance
Much of this is obviously down to tactics, and the coaching staff are to blame for a one-dimensional game plan, whilst the players must take responsibility for their inability to play with their heads up, and their blinkered belief that all they needed to do was to keep pounding away. But if Flood is being constrained by the tactics, then he should take control of the situation, everything Australia did on Saturday, they did through Quade Cooper, their fair less experienced fly-half. Care was undoubtedly part of the problem: his slow service and lack of tactical nous was shown up by the way that Ben Youngs greatly increased the tempo when he came on, but again, it is up to his fly-half to tell Care what service he wants, and to make sure he gets it.
If Flood is going to be the long term solution at fly-half, he must take responsibility for the way the game is played, he must want the ball, especially with the try line begging. Watch good international fly-halves and they show the confidence and sometimes the arrogance to demand the ball and to try and make things happen. Last Saturday, Toby Flood seemed frozen, too meek to even try.
Saturday 12 June 2010
Rugby: Guinness Premiership Final 2010
The lessons from the Guinness Premiership final are many, and perhaps most notable of them all was that reports of rugby's demise as an entertaining game have been greatly exaggerated.
English rugby was heavily criticised in the early part of the 2009/10 season for the staid tactics being used by both the national team and the Premiership clubs. With hindsight this may come to be seen as a period of adjustment following the abolition of the ELVs, and although English rugby adapted more slowly than other nations, because of the innate conservatism of the league, last summer's Lions tour had already shown that good rugby could be played, whichever set of laws was being used, and in fact, the early part of the season was not all doom and gloom. All it would take was for one team to break the mould, and others would surely follow.
Brendan Venter's Saracens were the story of the season
The second half of the season, when referees changed their interpretation of the tackle law, saw the game open up across all competitions. In the first half the season, Saracens were the epitome of conservative rugby, and they received little credit for setting the pace before Christmas. Subsequently they lost their way in the middle of the season, as their limited game plan relied on stopping their opponents from scoring and then staying in front with the boot. This left them vulnerable to sides that could score tries, and they seemed to lack a plan b. However, later in the season, Brendan Venter's side unleashed their second incarnation, building a layer of attacking rugby on top of the platform of their powerful pack and defence. Schalk Brits typified the new Saracens, the hooker doing his his job at set pieces, playing like a centre in attack and a flanker in defence. Saracens' transformation summed up the entire season: staid but underrated early in the year, explosive in the latter part of the season.
The final itself proved that regardless of the style of rugby on show, knowing how to win is the most important skill of all, and although it was desperately close for Saracens, Leicester's coolness under pressure was remarkable, and made the difference. The Tigers have had no consistency at either head coach, or fly-half in the last decade, and yet they have continued to dominate, producing generation after generation of players who perform when it matters most. Saracens have an excellent team, but do not yet have a lasting winning culture like Leicester do. It also reinforced the concept that the best attacking rugby comes from quick ball at the the breakdown and offloading out of the tackle. The change in refereeing style only affected the former – there was no reason why teams could not pass out of the tackle in the early part of the season, and that realisation, combined with the improvement at the breakdown is what led to the improvement in the Premiership in 2010.
Leicester celebrate at the final whistle
The next step for the Watford-based club is to prove they are not a flash in the pan, like the good Sale and Gloucester sides of recent years, but that they are here to stay. The final proved that they can play, now they need to do it consistently. Leicester meanwhile, have to overcome the loss of a couple of key veterans in Ben Kay and Lewis Moody, but with a few less injuries next season, could be even better for a second full season under coach Richard Cockerill, who deserves credit for winning two league titles and appearing in one Heineken Cup final in only 18 months in the job.
The story of the Guinness Premiership in 2009/10 is one of redemption. It started with controversy: fake blood, drugs and foul play. It went through a spell in purgatory, when no-one seemed to believe that it was worthwhile any more. Yet it finished in style, with a spectacular final, the greatest since the playoffs began. There will be much to look forward to in 2010/11.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)