Jamie Hosie caught up with 2003 World Cup-winning England centre Will Greenwood, who says that there is no reason the host nation can’t win the upcoming tournament if they set themselves achievable targets. He also gave his opinion on why we shouldn’t read too much into the warm-up games, and England’s centre partnership.
Hi Will. Let’s start by talking about your old position, and all the controversy around the selection of Sam Burgess – how much of a risk do you think it was to select him as well as another inexperienced player in Henry Slade?
I’m not too fussed about that – Barritt and Joseph are first choice. Slade is class and will prove it when he gets his chance at the WC. Burgess – of course people could have arguments about his rugby union pedigree, but his big match temperament cannot be doubted, and if he’s needed to step in and fill a hole, he will do a mightily impressive job. So I’m not concerned.
The bigger concern is that we get a solid platform – the forwards will decide who wins this World Cup, not the backs. If we can get quick ball and get a good platform, then the backs can show what they can do. You can have the best backline in the world, as you saw in 2007 whe England beat Australia in Marseille; they had an extraordinarily good backline waiting for the ball, but they waited all day and it never came.
Yes, well that’s kind of the Wallaby paradox really, isn’t it… England’s set-piece has wobbled a bit in the warm-up games, though – are you concerned about that at all or do you think it’ll come good when it matters?
It’s one of these things that we’ll view in hindsight, because of that mindset, that process that we spoke about before. The introduction of Parling meant that while there were a few wobbly ones, we suddenly went 14 from 14, against Ireland who had O’Connell, O’Mahony, Toner – all shrewd operators. Scrappy ball is better than losing it, so you take 14 from 14.
At the scrum, we lost a couple against the head which was frustrating. It’s one of those moments now where I don’t think England will have panicked, but they’ll have worked really hard internally and the proof will be in the pudding.
How impressed were you with England against Ireland in general and is that they team you expect to line-up against Fiji?
[They were] strong in moments like they were in the home game against France; still not taking all of their chances, which they’ll be frustrated about from both the games – but particularly Ireland, where Ireland were very poor by their standards and yet with 50 mins on the clock it was 15-13. That scoreline did not reflect the game, but they still ran the risk of losing a game where Ireland hadn’t fired many shots.
They’ve lapsed into moments of high error count and poor concentration, and suddenly found themselves underneath their own posts
That will be a concern, because you don’t want to get involved in too many arm-wrestles in a World Cup. When they’ve played with pace, and tempo and precision, they’ve looked unstoppable. But they’ve lapsed into moments of high error count and poor concentration, and suddenly found themselves underneath their own posts. In one-off games that’s fine, but you can’t do that week in week out in a tournament that requires you to win seven games on the trot. So plenty to give you optimism, but there’s also enough to suggest they need to be much sharper in the big games.
How much do you think sides hold back in these games? How different will the teams look and feel at the tournament proper?
I don’t think they necessarily find themselves during the week, or on matchday, holding back, but the brain is a powerful thing. It is very difficult to send signals to the brain that this is a must win game when it isn’t a must win game.
When you’re on the line and you’re losing to Wales in the quarter-final like we were, or the semi-final against France, an element of fear and adrenaline kicks in, understanding that there is no second chance, that this is it. In a warm-up game it would be a Herculean task for people to behave in the same [way]. When the first real tackle is made and the first high ball goes up on the 18th of December, there will be a marked shift in intensity.
As an England fan for this one then, what do your head and heart say to England’s chances?
Yeah, definitely, we’ll get there. Final. Get involved. Why not? Break the World Cup down into small objectives: can you beat Fiji? Yes. In a one off game, can England beat Wales? Yes. In a one off game, can England beat Australia? Yes. They’ve done all of those in the last year. Can we beat Uruguay with a second string side up in Manchester? Yes.
Once you’re in the knockout stages, go through the same process. Don’t worry about winning the World Cup – genuinely. It’s a strange old thing, but go week to week, game to game, do your prep, do your research on each individual side, and understand that when you do all that, you can win those games.
Aviva ambassador Will Greenwood was at a Parliamentary Reception celebrating the success of Aviva Tackling Numbers, delivered by the 12 Aviva Premiership Rugby clubs and available online at aviva.co.uk/tacklingnumbers
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Sometimes he talks alot of bollox. Forwards will determine who wins cup? Same old Northern Hemisphere rubbish which has kept us from rarely getting close to beating ABs. Good mobile pack with the skills of backs, and not the one dimensional bash and crash mentality, will help secure fast ball which backs can use. (if they are ever given the chance with any regularity). An arm wrestle is just about all Northern Hemisphere can do. Remember Eng vs Ire when Irish sucked England into a wrestling dual. Had England used their far superior backs they would easily have won. Then look at Georgia vs Japan just recently. The whole Georgia pack was made up of top class pros plying their trade in France. Yet they lost to a far weaker, but more mobile pack and backs. The fat waddling wastes of space like Castrogiovanni et al regularly found in European rugby are dinosaurs.
Snap! Some former Int’als esp, can be like that. Jingoism rules… which tells the audience nuthin’.
Greenwood, was, IMO, the best centre has had in my memory, incl Guscott (greedy & ran his wingers into touch), but conversely he spouts unsubstantiated opinion ad infinitum.
What England can do, will do, or might (or might not) do is 1 thing, but what they actually do, is another. Completely subjective tosh from Greenwood which utterly ignores the reality that England lost 6 in a row v the SH in little over the last yr & were taken to the cleaners in France whereby they won NO area of that game!
And he’s not concerned? Neither, no doubt, is W. Mitty.
BTW, the hackneyed mantra that ‘Forwards will decide who wins World Cup, not backs’, is old rugby league or Yankee football bollocks.
If your backs don’t (usually) score the points, you’ll win anyway? Yeah right. Esp with Youngs fwd pass to May & ‘Captn Marvel’ Robshaw’s fwd shovel to butcher Wigglesworth’s try!
The reality is that a team must SCORE when in possession & stop the oppo from doing so when they don’t have the pill… & this means a combo of fwds & backs. It’s a, er, team game.