A tale of two autumns: what England can learn from Ireland

As England enter their final autumn international battered and bruised, with a single win over Samoa and two disappointing losses to their name, Ireland are celebrating a series in which they overcame injury woes worse even than England’s to complete a clean sweep. Where has it all gone wrong? Or has it even gone that wrong?

Let’s start with the positives for England, because there have actually been several. First and foremost, we’ve discovered that George Ford can deal with test match rugby. Yes, he’s only had one game and it was against Samoa, but the way he went about his business calmly and managed to catch the eye in attack, even with a dearth of creativity in the centres outside him, was hugely encouraging.

Samoa are one of the most physical outfits around and, naturally, Ford was a man they singled out for especially brutal treatment – but he wasn’t phased, he didn’t go into his shell and stand further away from the gainline. Instead, he kept attacking it and he kept penetrating it – something England have failed painfully to do all autumn.

Jonny May is another to have come of age this autumn. He is blessed with sensational pace and acceleration but until now he had seemed timid, and almost frightened to try and use it. His try against New Zealand proved that he can be a genuine game-changer (something England boast very few of) and his finishes against Samoa show his poaching ability. He should have that wing berth sewn up to the World Cup, injuries-allowing.

The set piece has continued to look solid with Courtney Lawes adding to his burgeoning reputation as an unlikely lineout supremo. Next to him, Dave Attwood has added a huge amount of grunt and his influence has largely gone under the radar. One, albeit horrendous, butchered two-on-one aside, he has been one of England’s best players, lending considerable ballast to a rolling maul that has functioned well – not many sides score two tries from it against the Springboks.

So why is it, then, with plenty in the positive column, that there is such a sense of despair amongst England fans even before the Australia game this weekend? And make no mistake, a win against the Wallabies, even with a good performance to boot, will not an autumn make.

The answer, perversely, could lie across the Irish sea. The similarities between the two sides coming into the autumn were acute: an overwhelmingly positive Six Nations earlier this year, a host of injuries to key individuals, and in the midfield a giant whole where an attacking threat was missing (either through injury or retirement). So why the contrasting fortunes this autumn?

Ireland have gone about their business in an entirely different manner to England, scaling back their game to focus on the strengths of the individuals that are left. Joe Schmidt has got his tactics spot on.

He hasn’t necessarily encouraged his side to go out and fling the ball around, and instead has focussed on intelligent ways to beat each opposition, the best example being the way they negated South Africa’s rolling maul by simply standing off it. He hasn’t reinvented the wheel but instead has got them playing an intelligent game that revolves around flawless kicking.

Consider who their best players have been – the half-backs. Conor Murray and Johnny Sexton have come in for well-deserved praise for their game management, putting Ireland in the right areas of the pitch from which to strike. Two of their four tries against the Springboks and Wallabies have come from pinpoint kicks. It’s exactly what England haven’t been doing enough.

Perhaps, then, Lancaster’s greatest fault has been trying to mould the players to the gameplan, rather than the other way round. As an example, look no further than Brad Barritt (and I must stress this is just one example – I’m not blaming Barritt for all of England’s woes). He has taken plenty of flak but he is being asked to fill a role for which he is not cut out.

It is not his game to bulldoze over the gainline, and it has left England without front foot ball from which to attack. This has a knock-on effect to the speed and quality of ball you get for the next few phases. Stick Manu Tuilagi, whose sheer size makes him a weapon, or Luther Burrell, whose intelligent running lines do likewise, in the 13 shirt, and it makes sense.

With Barritt there it is not really a viable move. It feels like he is being asked to play to the Tuilagi/Burrell blueprint, when he clearly doesn’t have the physical capabilities to do so.

If Lancaster is more worried about his team playing in a certain way – which it certainly seems he is, given all the talk of a culture, a brand of rugby – then he must use players that suit that game-plan better. If they are not available to him, he must adapt that gameplan to get the best out of those that are available. It is why Ireland seem to be in such a good place, while there is such negativity surrounding England.

The relationship between sports teams and the media can be strained at the best of times, and tends to get particularly prickly when things aren’t going so well on the pitch. For example, when you’ve just taken your run of losses against the Southern Hemisphere sides to a 22nd straight game.

You’ve got to feel some sympathy for Gatland et al – imagine if someone stuck a camera and microphone in your face moments after you’d just buggered something up at work. The thing is, though, journalists are paid to ask the questions that fans want answers to, and it is their job to gauge what those questions and answers are.

As tough as it might be, Gatland, Edwards and their staff would do better to grin and bear the media interrogation and focus their frustration on finding a way to end this woeful run. Instead the WRU have lodged an official complaint about the BBC’s interviews conducted post-game. It doesn’t feel like the right area on which to be focussing their attention right now.

And finally, rumour has it that tomorrow at midday Sam Burgess will be named on the Bath bench to take on Harlequins on Friday night. The real intrigue, though, surrounds what number he will have on his back. It’ll likely be either 20, indicating back-row, or 22/23, indicating centre. Rarely, if ever, has a shirt number been awaited with such baited breath.

By Jamie Hosie
Follow Jamie on Twitter: @jhosie43

Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images