The front row
England have had an awkward time at the scrummage since the end of the hit, the drive into the old “engage” position, whose reduction to a “set” that would not squish a caterpillar has turned Dan Cole into a hunched bundle of penalty-conceding, jibe-exchanging frustration. Once Joe Marler’s technique – that worked so effectively on Tomas Francis – was brought to the attention of the refereeing fraternity before the Australia game, England seemed to lose the initiative, symptomatic of their lack of speed in solving problems.
Is this the moment to make of this end-of-empire exit an opportunity? Instead of trying to reconstruct what once was, why not embrace – and sell all the way down the line to junior rugby – the notion of a high tempo? They could start by becoming world leaders in the lost art of channel-one scrummage ball – opening a gap on the loosehead side, and having the hooker chip the ball straight through this gap into open play. Ben Youngs could handle the scramble and ship the ball to George Ford, and Tom Youngs could rise from the middle of the front row and do what he does best - head for the open field, the looser the play the better. Or will it be Dylan Hartley?
The second row
For a country feared for towering menace – Martin Johnson and Wade Dooley spring to mind – England will be haunted by the Call, the decision against Wales to throw short to Chris Robshaw, a back-rower, at the last-chance lineout. It could be said that Johnno had a sobering experience of his own - at the last lineout of the 2001 Lions Test series in Australia, when Justin Harrison pinched the ball off the great one - and it just goes to show that things sometimes simply go wrong.
Joe Launchbury, man of the match – say again? - against Australia had a good enough World Cup, but has not become the centrepiece of the England team, a role predicted for him when he burst athletically on the scene in 2012. Courtney Lawes looks in need of a good rest, and perhaps - this is very un-PC – putting on a few pounds. Geoff Parling, the lineout thinker, never seemed to have intellectual authority over Australia.
Now that thumping into rucks without use of the arms is a no-no, an opponent over the ball cannot easily be removed by the undersized. Second-rows, with long levers and heavy frames, are made for ruck clearance. Perhaps in this one position England can look forward to tightening their expectations – put your large selves about, ahead of making the ball sing.
The back row
The 7-less system peculiar to England works when either Billy Vunipola or Ben Morgan takes the ball forward. In turn, this only works if the timing of the No8’s run and the scrum-half’s pass is spot-on. For reasons to do with the unsteady set piece and a creeping general uneasiness, Morgan and Vunipola never really found a groove. They took the ball standing still too often. They were heavily marked because opponents had done their research. It meant England had to go sideways to the breakdown, rather than forward.
Tom Wood and Chris Robshaw are honest as the day is long but increasingly unable to exert any influence on big games. Add to that the whole question of leadership and decision-making, and this was not a prosperous area for England. But where is the 7 in the English system?
The half-backs
They all did well. Owen Farrell is part of the snarling brigade – Mike Brown and Dan Cole are fellow members – that attracts a lot of negative comments and that, more dangerously, may antagonise officials in games to come. By now he should be able to control himself. By way of contrast, his kicking exemplified cool-headedness and precision. What an interesting – and volatile – mix he is.
It was strange that a game so fresh and inventive at 9 and 10 still didn’t lead to much beyond. Any combination of Ben Youngs, Richard Wigglesworth, Danny Care, George Ford, Farrell and Danny Cipriani (oops), can give variety and urgency to England’s style. So where does the problem lie …?
The centres
It matters that Sam Burgess is not an international centre and that Brad Barritt is not a 13 and that Luther Burrell should have been in the squad and that Henry Slade was never given a chance, but somehow the thinking behind the centre combinations is more important than who ended up wearing the shirts. England, for all that they talked of expecting their midfield players to be able to give and take a pass, opted for size and for minimising the risks posed by others over their own confidence in creating something for themselves. Of course they can all give and take a pass, but not necessarily in the white-hot heat of Pool A at its most febrile.
England have a back three that should be gorging on passes. The centres should bang it up the middle only to create more space next time for their wings and full-back. And they should pass. They didn’t. This was the career-defining position for Stuart Lancaster and he made the wrong calls.
The back three
Brilliant and underused. Speedy, elusive, dangerous in all aspects of play and underfed. Jonny May, Anthony Watson and Mike Brown, the combo that never was because the World Cup ball stayed away – and they never went to the World Cup ball.
