Today, as you open your Sunday papers with your glass
of orange juice and croissant the headlines are straight down the line and to the
point for yesterday England fell to their fifth straight
defeat in a row and their twelfth at the hands of South Africa. From a fans
perspective it was tough result to take however our hurt is nothing compared to
the men in white and their coaching team. Last night, when they arrived home their
bodies will have been hurting and their hearts too, for it is agony to lose at a game, let alone one at Twickenham at the hands of your own mistakes.
This Autumn a lot has been said about learning lessons
and during the course of the eighty minutes some of those lessons
remained un-mastered. With the spotlight focused on our kicking game England
once again didn’t deliver when it truly came down to it. Owen Farrell has performed
superbly for England in the past however at this moment in time he isn’t quite
on the money and isn’t consistently putting England in the right places. If you are playing without a fully functioning kicking game then rugby becomes a difficult
prospect. Stuart
highlighted following the game that he was planning to make changes for the
third test in this series regardless of the result and I fully expect two different half backs
to be starting in next Saturday evening.
Frustration is the overarching
emotion, for the basics let England down, as Stuart pointed out his side gave away points that South Africa didn’t really have to work hard to earn. Dropped
balls and un-necessary penalties halted England from getting any serious momentum when it mattered, although coming back to 20-20 must be applauded. In Andy Farrell's matter of fact tone he hit the nail on the head when he stated that 'that type of loss of continuity just
mars our game.’ Consistency of execution is king at this level and England’s just hasn’t
been up quite up to scratch at key moments in these tests.
Individuals did come out of the game with ticks against their
names, Mike Brown was rock solid under the
high ball and did everything in his power to ask questions of the Boks. Courtney
Lawes put his body on the line throughout and at scrum time England’s front
three were a force and made South Africa think.As Stuart addressed the press after the game hurt and frustration was etched over his face as it was over every single player on the pitch and we all know that losing consistently isn’t good enough at any point in time, let alone a year out from a home World Cup however shooting insults and panicking will not get us anywhere. If the players and coaches were being unrealistically positive then I'd be mightily concerned however I don’t think that they are. Behind closed doors harsh words will be being said, they may not be openly expressed to you and I but I guarantee you that they will be being said. Right now, England are bitterly disappointed, hurting and kicking themselves and personally I believe that a spot of solidarity and support is needed to be shown to our national side.
See Mike Brown's Post Match Reaction, his facial expression and words say it all --> here
