Moody: England would be better off had Johnson stayed on

As the World Cup reaches its climax with Australia and New Zealand this weekend, England are left ruing what could have been. Jamie Hosie caught up with Lewis Moody – himself a veteran of two World Cup finals – to chat about what went wrong for England and what the players will be feeling this week.

JH: Hi Lewis. So, it’s World Cup final week – you’ve been there before, what will the New Zealand & Australia guys be going through this week? Does training taper off a lot so deep into the tournament?

LM: They’ll have got over the initial elation of getting to the final – or another one for the All Blacks. It’s a wind-down in terms of the physicality of training. They’ll have maybe two sessions this week and they’ll be very light, so that everyone’s in the best possible shape for Saturday. They’ve done all the hard work to get there, now it’s about being 100% physically fit and mentally ready to take on that challenge.

“They’ll have focussed on the opposition, gone through some analysis… although some teams do the opposite. Some teams just focus on their own game, make sure they’ve got that exactly right – but I’m sure both teams will have done their homework on what’s coming. They’ll focus on getting the basics right – South Africa and Scotland both proved that if you get your basics wrong, you’ll lose the game.”

It’s great to see the two most attacking sides in the world in the final, but how disappointed were you with the efforts of the Northern Hemisphere sides? Given what was expected of them, for none to reach the semi-finals is pretty shocking…

“Well I never expected anything of Scotland, so my enjoyment of watching them was heightened! Wales – to be quite frank, with the list of injuries they had, the fact that they almost beat South Africa is testament to their resilience. Ireland were going so well but just came unstuck against an incredibly tough Argentinian side, and also losing four of their big guns certainly hampered their competition.

“Of course the big disappointment was England. Ultimately they fell way short. It just shows you how important the basics are when it comes to international rugby. Some of the decision-making and the execution – it just fell apart.

“And when things go wrong, everything starts coming out of the wash, doesn’t it? If England had done well and progressed to the semi-final, I’m sure we would have never heard about all the problems that were going on inside the camp. You’ll never get 30 players that agree with what the the coach and captain want to do, but you’ve got to make sure you have them on side – they need to be pulling for each other.

“They need to regroup. They’ve had the biggest disappointment in English rugby history. They need to move on and improve from it. They certainly have the ability to compete against the best sides in the world.”

The back-row is an area you’ve been reasonably outspoken about. When you look at the two sides in the final, you’ve got the likes of McCaw, Hooper and Pocock playing – do you think England need to focus on finding and developing someone of a similar ilk?

“I certainly think there needs to be an investment made by the RFU and the clubs to help develop a player of that skill. If you look at most Premiership clubs, they’re bringing in foreign players that can do that. If they’re not dominating at the breakdown, then there needs to be another area where your seven or six is doing so. Is he getting every loose ball on the ground? Is he relentlessly pressuring the 10 a la Serge Betsen? There has to be that disruptive element to a number seven.

“We’ve only ever really produced Neil Back as an out and out seven. Steffon Armitage certainly fits that mould, but has fallen foul of the foreign player rule which is a real shame and an opportunity missed.

“Referees are refereeing differently, the rules have changed and we’re seeing that contest at the breakdown become more and more important. The sides that dominate that area of the game are coming out on top of games. If you’ve got an exciting backline – which England do have – if you get those boys turnover ball, the game becomes much easier.”

Given everything you’ve just said, do you think there’s a future for Chris Robshaw in the England back-row?

“It’ll be interesting to see. Chris has made the absolute most of his ability and his opportunity. He was made England captain on the day of his first cap, and Stuart Lancaster has invested a lot in him. He’s done an incredible job in terms of where he was to where he is now.

“Maybe England willl be looking for other players getting an opportunity, but Chris’ role could well be at six – I certainly hope he hasn’t played his last game for England.”

You touched a bit on Lancaster there – do you think he’s the right man to keep taking England forwards? Should he keep his job? And you’re not allowed to sit on the fence…

“I’ve been quite clear about what I think. England made a mistake in 2011 by allowing Martin Johnson to disappear. I don’t think they’ll make that mistake again. I think if they’d retained Johno, they would have been in a better position than they are now during this World Cup. There’s a huge amount of good that Lancaster has done and I believe he should stay involved.

“I think the position for him would be director of rugby; as far as I can tell, having watched a number of sessions he’s never really coached the side – he’s the manager of the side. He’s a good organiser. That allows him to deal with all the day-to-day managing, the background and heritage stuff, and allow the coaches that remain or [that he] brings in to do the coaching, and for there to be no issue over who actually is the coach.”

Lewis Moody features in ‘NatWest presents The World’s Fastest Interception’ a spectacular rugby Guinness World Record™. NatWest is a partner of England Rugby and the WRU. Follow @NatWest_Rugby or like NatWest Rugby on Facebook for more.