This England side are all about the strength of the collective and the team above the individual but the collective are not working when faced with the best in the world and they cannot rely on any individual flair to get them out of trouble. For the amount of possession and field position they had against South Africa it is staring them in the face: their creativity at Nos9, 10, 12 and No13 is just not on a par with the best.
This is perhaps epitomised by Stuart Lancaster’s persistence with Brad Barritt. He is a good, honest player and I do not like criticising someone like him but he should not be playing Test rugby. He is picked for his organisation and solidity but that is not enough even when it is working and currently it is not.
Elsewhere in the team it is easy to call, for example, for Steffon Armitage and say he is better at the breakdown than Chris Robshaw but Robshaw is the team player and completely buys into Lancaster’s collective ethos. Perhaps the coach has gone too far down this route at the expense of individual quality.
If you don’t have the creativity, you have to be rock solid at the basics – kicking, chasing and so on – and England were not on Saturday. South Africa are not the most creative side but they do the basics well and they had that spark when Pat Lambie reacted to what was happening in front of him to chip through for Cobus Reinach’s try. Such a creative reaction as play unfolds seems beyond this England side. Jonny May’s inspired try against the All Blacks seems as if it happened despite, not because of, the way England play.
England are nowhere near the top two teams and three-point deficits mask their deficiencies. The past two weeks have been one-off games they could have won but didn’t and it is not by bad luck that they have lost five in a row – all against the top two sides.
There was nothing about their play against the Springboks to get you out of your seat. They ran the same play about four times, which was Owen Farrell to Barritt, Kyle Eastmond goes round the back and Anthony Watson comes inside. It just ends up with Barritt carrying about 10 yards away from the opponent and Watson having to clear the ruck. Then the forwards come round the corner on to slow ball. This epitomises England’s choice to play phases over the challenge of breaking down a defence through strikes.
This will never trouble the best in the world. It might beat Scotland, though potentially not any more as they continue to improve under Vern Cotter, or Samoa but at the top level it is not enough. That initial play sums up their lack of creativity. The one innovative moment came in the first half when the forwards went round the corner and Eastmond popped up to feed Billy Vunipola, but there was nothing from the backline acting as a unit.
There was a phase on 21 minutes when they were in South Africa’s 22 and it reversed off a ruck and went through Farrell, Barritt, Eastmond and Watson. Every one of them passed the ball 10 yards away from the opponent and it ended up with Eastmond, in possession again, carrying it into contact – and he’s about 5ft 6in.
Farrell was not great against South Africa but he has been good for England in the Six Nations. He is out of form and he has not played enough recently but the important difference is that at the highest level, over the past two weekends, he has not been getting front-foot ball because Vunipola and co are struggling to get over the gain line. When the No8’s muscular presence cannot get England over the gain line, it highlights the lack of creativity in the backline and a good performance against Samoa will not change this.
To be fair to Lancaster, in some areas I’m not sure he has much choice in personnel. If someone says “select a better midfield”, I’m not sure there is one. I’m not sure George Ford would be a big change nor would Stephen Myler, and I would not want to get carried away about Danny Cipriani but Lancaster has had two years and has not explored the options. People say “what about Jonathan Joseph?” and the answer is we do not know because Lancaster is still selecting Barritt, who is not going to improve. There may not be many options but after two years we should know a bit more. It is time to get down on our knees and hope that Sam Burgess is the real deal, though Bath’s head coach, Mike Ford, reiterated on Sunday that he will start for them in the back row.
People say dogs look like their owners and this is a side built in Lancaster’s pragmatic image. At the highest level that is not likely to be good enough.
