The Autumn Internationals are now over and Martin Johnson will have much to ponder. England played 4, won 1 and were humiliated in 2. If nothing else, Johnson will be left in no doubt as to what sort of squad he has inherited and that is one which consists of a young, naive group of players, some of whom are not good enough and others who will take time to bed in.
In their post match interviews all the England players delivered the normal piffle about taking "positives" out of the game. I can't bear this, media training seems to have taken over and each and every player spouts the same nonsense that has been drilled in to them. I'd much rather see some raw emotion and feel that these guys are genuinely hurting at having been beaten so convincingly at home.
In my opinion it's difficult to see any real positives to come out of the kind of beatings we took from South Africa and New Zealand but going forward, below is my analysis of where I believe England were good and indeed bad.
Good
1. James Haskell: Haskell was the one player who showed passion right to the last minute. Physically he stood out as the 1 England ball carrier who actually made ground when going forward. I would make him captain for the 6 nations.
2. Nick Kennedy: You can't argue with too many of Martin Johnson's selections, as he said "these are our best players". However, the one error he did make was by dropping Nick Kennedy after the Pacific Islands game. Kennedy was fantastic in the lineout and is worth his place in the team just for that. He wins all his own ball and disrupts the opposition on theirs. I would pair him with a big lump like Simon Shaw and let him be our primary source of ball from the line.
3. Danny Care: It was a baptism of fire for Care but he still showed enough to suggest that he can go on and be a great player for England. The Lions tour might be too soon for him but I'm confident he will win many caps in the future.
4. Ricky Flutey: It took him time to bed in but he looks like a good organiser and seems to have a calm head. He needs someone with more creativity than Jamie Noon outside him.
5. Delon Armitage: Our best player by far over the 4 games. He came from nowhere and showed he has a real head for the international stage. Looked rock solid under the high balls, has a boomer of a kick on him and he was dangerous in attack on the rare occasions he got any ball.
6. Injuries: There are some quality players to come back for England. David Strettle, James Simpson Daniel, Luke Narraway and Jonny Wilkinson would all make my England 22 if everyone was fit and the 2 wingers especially could add some much needed guile to the England back line.
Bad:
1. Steve Borthwick: The man must be credited for his utter professionalism and dedication to the cause. However, he wasn't good enough when Johnson and co were around and he isnt' good enough now. His side did not learn their lessons from previous games and continued to make the same mistakes over and over again. His leadership failed because he was unable to instill any control on the game. As a second row he was shown up by the likes of Matfield, Botha and Williams, all players whose standard he needs to be reaching. A great bloke but we need something and somebody different to lead us in the spring.
2. Jamie Noon: Borthwick and Noon were the 2 most experienced players from the England squad but like his colleague, Noon displayed no leadership qualites which you need from a guy with 30 odd caps. Noon is a no nonsense centre who will never give up and tackle all day. However, his creativity is lacking and the English midfield never looked like scoring even when we had created the opportunities to do so. Johnson needs to find an outside centre who can mix defensive strength with the ability to break the line.
3. Nick Easter: Easter is a great team man but I fear he is not dynamic enough for test match rugby. Compare him to Pierre Spies or Rodney Soialo and he comes up short. He is one guy that does offer leadership but he lacked power and made some bad decisions this autumn.
4. Contact Area: England still can't seem to operate effectively at the contact area. On Saturday we were repeatedly penalised. This time out, there was no lack of effort or aggression but technically we were weak and it cost us dear given the 4 yellow cards we picked up, 3 of which were for repeated infringements that referee Alain Roland simply grew tired of. If we can't get quick ball, then our attacking options will always be limited. The opposition rarely had to commit men to the breakdown when we attacked which allowed them time to allign and defend in numbers.
5. Our attack: Too often England tried to bulldozer their way through the NZ defence which was never going to work. We need to stretch the opposition, move them around the field and then exploit the gaps which will appear. Even when we had great chances and clean breaks the support wasn't there and we turned over the ball at crucial moments.
6. Fly half: To me Toby Flood is not an international player. He looks willowy when running with the ball and his kicking/passing game seemed nervous. Flood missed his first touch from a penalty which summed up the whole match. England desperately needed to put early pressure on the All Blacks if they had any chance of winning and for Flood to make such an elementary error was criminal. Johnson should stick with Cipriani who whilst not having a great series, still looked capable of creating the magic that is required at this level, something that Flood never did.
The Six Nations of course will be a totally different cup of tea in a few months time but if England are to have any chance of success a few changes will have to be made. Here is my team to take England forward:
1. Sheridan
2. Hartley
3. Stevens
4. Kennedy
5. Shaw
6. Haskell (c)
7. Rees
8. Narraway
9. Care
10. Cipriani
11. Strettle
12. Flutey
13. TBC
14. James Simpson Daniel
15. Delon Armitage
Totally agree with your team selection, Andrew and with the comments preceeding. As for a 13, I would like to see Tait have a bit of a run out at 15 and then I'd whack Armitage in at 13 as he plays there from time to time at Irish. Or if not, then try Tait again at outside centre and hope his size doesn't cause too much jip. I'd also like to see how well Hipkiss fairs with a run of maybe 3 or 4 games in the 6N. He's powerful, got quick feet, knows how to pass and times his runs extremely well.
I still think we have what it takes to do very well against the rest of Europe, but the Wales clash in Cardiff will be a big ask on current form. Hopefully by then we would have ditched John Wells and hired a forwards coach who knows how to play fast running, powerful rugby. I refuse to believe that Johnno would have placed him on his staff were he not there orginally. Same goes for Ford for that matter, oh and he should get Aldred back as well.
Agreed. Let's have Hipkiss in and the woeful John Wells sent packing. If our pack has gone from being one of the best in the world to being thought of as less challenging than Italy's there's only one man who can tell us what's going on.