If there is
one phrase that is most fitting to describe yesterday’s QBE International
against New Zealand it would be ‘so close and yet so far’, England faced up to the best team in the world and outplayed them for much of the match and yet
they still ended up on the wrong side of the score line. Clearly for
professional sportsmen winning is everything and the players will wake up today
with that sickening feeling and rueing what could have been. For everyone else
today should be a day to praise the efforts and performance of our England 23,
because yesterday HQ witnessed something very special and almost witnessed the
double.
 |
| Always a special moment - The View from HQ |
Before the
match started England’s chances of winning were deemed to be small to non-existent, the collective might of the All Blacks with their hundreds of caps
and the fact that they were on a revenge rampage was thought to be far too much
for this injury stricken England outfit. However thank goodness that Chris
Robshaw and his team did not share this view and just went out and played some
brutally intense rugby.
New Zealand
certainly weren’t quiet; their offloading game is a thing of pure beauty,
Richie McCaw and Kieran Read were as exceptional as ever (despite lacking a
small amount of discipline) and even the loss of their new centurion Dan Carter
didn’t overly phase them… however as I said earlier England were the better team for
huge parts of the game. The term ‘fronting up’ is a phrase that is sometimes
used too liberally however, yesterday, boy did England front up. The usual huge
work horses of Tom Wood and Chris Robshaw were outstanding and they were joined
by 13 others as our collective team work rate was higher than we have seen in a
long time. Our forwards, well our forwards were very, very good and Stuart will
be extremely pleased to have that platform sorted moving into the next few
years, injury permitting obviously. In the backs there were some stand out performers, my player of the series Mike Brown had another outrageous game and Owen Farrell
continued to show just how much he took on board out in Australia this summer with
another mature and strong performance. However it wasn’t all rosy as a
few question marks still remain, in particular regarding the ‘back up’ centre
partnership and best wingers… personally I think that the 12T and Tomkins
combination lacks a little fire power and I certainly think that another look
at our other specialist wingers might be a good idea!
 |
| England 'Fronting Up' |
So what now
for Stuart Lancaster and his England team? Well for the players a couple of
days rest and recuperation are required, as Chris Robshaw’s black eye and Dylan Hartley's bruised lung illustrate, test match rugby is brutally intense and extremely hard on the body. Leaving
the Autumn behind there should be a huge feeling of positivity, England showed
yesterday just what they can do against the greatest opposition in the world
and boy is it exciting to watch. Throughout the series they have had moments of
brilliance and moments of despair… individuals have stepped up and made a name
for themselves however sadly injuries have been a larger factor than we would all
have liked.
From my
perspective this England squad are on an upward trajectory and as a fan it is
an exciting time. England are not the finished package yet however the
components are in place and the performances are building with every match
played. There is a huge amount of respect for the jersey and every single member of the squad knows that someone else could come in
and take their shirt away at any moment and that is something that is
a huge driving force for individual and collective improvement. The shared experiences from this Autumn, both good
and bad, will make this squad stronger as they continue to build towards that
huge long term goal of winning the home Rugby World Cup in 2015. As winter creeps
in and our players head back to the Aviva Premiership we must applaud their
achievements in these three 2013 QBE Internationals, I think that the matches have
been invaluable and ultimately successful and I can't wait to see what this England team can do when
they are next in action in Paris next year for the RBS 6 Nations.
 |
| Onwards and upwards to the RBS 6 Nations |
