Monday 9 February 2015 23:55, UK
England head coach Stuart Lancaster has played down the significance of captain Chris Robshaw’s decision to wait in the tunnel ahead of Friday’s victory over Wales.
However, Lancaster did concede that he feels his team have a strong core leadership group in place ahead of the World Cup this autumn.
Robshaw kept his men in the tunnel prior to kick-off in Cardiff so they would not find themselves out on the pitch and waiting around for the Wales team to appear.
And a fired-up England side then shrugged off the absence of some injured key players to produce a fine display, rallying from 16-8 down at half-time to triumph 21-16.
Lancaster said: “A stand-off in the tunnel means nothing if you don’t win the game. I was pleased we did our talking on the field.
“There is a growing sense in the team of collective leadership and a collective desire to impose our game on the opposition. We have had some tough times but you learn as you go.
“I think we have got a good leadership group now who are helping Chris. He sets the tone as the captain but overall it is the on-field stuff that really makes the difference.
“More talking comes on the field than off.”
And Lancaster was rightly proud of his team’s second-half fightback, which was begun when Jonathan Joseph powered over to cap a relentless assault on the try-line from the visitors at the start of the second half.
“We didn’t feel we were dominated in the first half but equally we did not dominate,” said Lancaster.
“A 16-8 differential is a big one to try and claw back but the start of the second half was strong.
“We got a good try from JJ after a sustained attack and I thought we built our game on that.
“There was a real strength in our carries, our defence and our discipline. We did not quite get any more tries towards the end but we felt we were in control and were ultimately delighted to get the win.”
