Fixture arrangement hasn't helped England's cause
Friday 14 November 2014 08:16, UK
Defeat to South Africa on Saturday would be England's fifth straight defeat, and Phil Edwards questions whether Stuart Lancaster is being treated too kindly...
Are the media too soft on Stuart Lancaster?
This is a question that a number of rugby journalists have begun to ask. Among themselves, that is. If things don't go right this weekend against South Africa, it could mean a fifth straight defeat for England, with just 10 Test matches to go before the start of the World Cup. This after a fifth defeat to World Champions New Zealand inside a calendar year.
Sir Clive Woodward's England, a year before their night of nights in Sydney, knocked over all three of the Southern Hemisphere superpowers in the space of a few weeks in a glorious all-conquering autumn campaign. They also went on to beat Australia and New Zealand on their own turf in the summer of 2003.
If you point the finger at Lancaster, the follow-up has to be to ask what you would have done differently
If we're honest, the current crop are nowhere near as advanced with less than a year to go before the next global gathering. So is anyone to blame? If you point the finger at Lancaster, the follow-up has to be to ask what you would have done differently.
A straw poll of Fleet Street's finest at the England team hotel the other day revealed that, apart from his mishandling of the start of the Sam Burgess affair, Mr Lancaster had not really dropped any monumental clangers. Conversely, no-one had any hesitation in naming things that the England head coach has handled well.
England haven't been helped by their fixtures coordinator. They were obliged to play the All Blacks at Eden Park (where the Kiwis haven't been beaten for twenty years) a week after last season's Premiership Final, which meant a number of first-choice players were unavailable. Cheers for that!
Fast forward five months and instead of being able to start the autumn with a good hit-out against a lesser outfit, England, after two weeks in camp and with front-line players out through injury, were invited to take on an All Blacks side who'd been together for months. Again, thanks a bunch!
Some people seem to think that England somehow deserve to win matches because they have deep pockets and a whacking great player base. I'm afraid (but also relieved) that sport doesn't work that way. The blokes you're playing are also very good and very well coached. They may also play a lot less attritional "do or die" rugby in their domestic seasons.
The timing of next year's World Cup will still favour the southern hemisphere's likely lads, but the playing field will be a lot more level than they are on summer tours and in the autumn. All sides will have plenty of time in camp and ought to have their best players available. Then we'll see how good Stuart Lancaster's side really are, especially as they'll be playing all but one of their group matches at HQ.
Admittedly, if you were to pick a Lions XV today, assuming everyone was fit and firing, you wouldn't be choosing that many Englishmen. Next year, however, it might be a different prospect.
And as for previous World Cups, don't forget that Sir Clive crashed out of his first Global jamboree in 1999, before going on to triumph four years later.
Are we too soft on Lancaster? I'm not so sure.
