No Rugby World Cup would be complete without an opponent taking a potshot at England’s “boring” style at some stage. Like the first cuckoo of spring it is simply a matter of who and when and the Argentinian hooker Agustín Creevy’s pre-match comments about the “dull” English must have amused, among others, the former Wallaby winger David Campese.
Never mind that Eddie Jones’s side have so far scored 11 tries in two games and are less reliant on their rolling maul as a strike weapon than the Pumas. While parts of Creevy’s thesis seem to have been lost in translation, his remarks have not impressed England’s attack coach, Scott Wisemantel, who suggests this particular “cliche” and the truth are two different things.
Wisemantel knows from personal experience how easy it is to make casual assumptions, having joined the red rose camp expecting the squad to be “predominantly public-school based” and far less diverse than is actually the case. While England do favour a structured game, he points out that a third of their tries at this World Cup have come from unstructured situations.
“I know we have good players and multiple threats so maybe it is a way for other people to pigeonhole us,” said the Australian. “I think it is a cliche. Look at the chances we probably let slip in the Tonga game. If we had taken those everyone would say: ‘Wow, that is exciting.’ Against the US I thought there were some brilliant bits of open-field rugby but it’s always a balance. Look at every team in this competition that is going OK and their set piece is solid.”
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Team guides
Pool A: Ireland, Japan, Russia, Samoa, Scotland
Pool B: Canada, Italy, Namibia, New Zealand, South Africa
Pool C: Argentina, England, France, Tonga, USA
Pool D: Australia, Fiji, Georgia, Uruguay, Wales
Creevy does have some first-hand experience of English preferences having spent two seasons at Worcester, where Wisemantel – “He might just have been at a boring club” – may now have to buy all his own drinks for the foreseeable future. Wisemantel, though, reckons Creevy’s unflattering opinion is based on evidence which is now past its use-by date. “He obviously hasn’t been watching much of the Premiership. There are some excellent teams with so many different styles.”
England’s first-choice hooker, Jamie George, also feels there is more to this current side than some of their critics give them credit for. “I don’t think we do play boring rugby,” said George. “I’m not overly surprised he’s tried to say that but he’s entitled to his opinion and hopefully we will prove him wrong on Saturday. I’m sure he’s just trying to rattle us a bit. He’s more than welcome to try.”
It all helps to stoke the fire in the buildup to Saturday’s game, to which England are eagerly looking forward. Beat Argentina and they will be guaranteed a place in the last eight, which Wisemantel says would be fair reward for their months of training-ground graft this year. “These guys, to a man, are the hardest-working group I have ever worked with,” said Wisemantel, who has coached all over the world. “Jeez, they come in and work hard.”
Among those keen to help his side do their talking on the field is Maro Itoje, who has so far come up against every major nation in the world bar Argentina. “They are very passionate, a very proud nation, they have a strong forward pack, a strong lineout, a strong scrum, and very dynamic backs. It is the type of game I love playing.”
This will also be the first time England have played outdoors at this tournament, having previously operated under a closed roof in both Sapporo and Kobe. While the ball is still likely to be slippery, George has taken good-humoured issue with his scrum-half Willi Heinz for claiming England’s big sweaty forwards are making the situation worse. “Just look at how shiny his head gets,” countered George.”He sweats as well, it’s not just us.”
