Bind and grind at its best? England v Scotland
As I’ve noted in the past, bind-and-grind rugby is dying a slow death. But as England showed two weeks ago,success can still be had if your opponent does not respond in kind. So what happens when when two dinosaurs meet, i.e. England v Scotland?
You might assume that fighting to be the last of your kind would be motivational, but who wants to die alone at the bottom of the evolutionary ladder? I think England feels this deep down and simply could not bring it on game day to defeat Scotland.
The Scots on the other hand went into the match winless in the 2008 Six Nations Championship and were anxious to make something of this important home-game (as a win would buffer their chances of getting the wooden spoon).
So despite a match largely bereft of an creative rugby, two kickers waited for their chance to slot over penalties. Fans and pundits crooned, and the English media focused on petty player selections issues and papparazzi-style rumors about who would get axed for last match against Ireland at Twickenham on March 15. All this is meaningless tactics to sell newspapers of course. Until England gets a coach who is willing to evolve England’s style, simple personnel changes will do little to improve England’s record.
I say we make Welsh coach Warren Gatland train England for a month or so and see who the dinosaur truly is; is the players or the coach. Only then can then natural selection take its course.
(On Mar 10th, 2008 at 3:10 pm)
seriously, how crap was that match. i guess none of us should be surprised, though. a matchup between scotland (who have scored 1 try in the tournament thus far) vs. england would never be the most compelling match in the world (especially with wilkinson kicking away possession at every opportunity).
i felt that scotland with all the ball they were getting, were at least attempting to run it a bit, especially in the opening moments before rory lamont went out and dan parks came on, sending paterson to the wing. what is somewhat perplexing is how they are so unsuccessful in creating anything at all. the best i can come up with is a) the ball isn’t quick enough; b) blair (who is otherwise scotland’s 6n player of the tournament) is not getting the ball out fast enough; c) the skills just aren’t good enough, i.e. passes behind players, players not receiving the ball at pace, etc. maybe they need a [different] backs coach?
a lot could be made of the english performance, which could pretty accurately be described as passionless. but i’m sure a lot of people will write on this issue, so i won’t go into too much depth. but what i will say, is that they could probably use a good amount of shuffling, if for no other purpose than to breathe a little life into the squad.
(On Mar 11th, 2008 at 10:56 am)
And so the insanity begins. Untested Cipriani coming in for Wilco. Unless that boy has a boot of gold, Ireland will have a field day.
(On Mar 11th, 2008 at 11:35 am)
Cipriani starting in place of Wilkinson officially marks England “giving up” in the tournament. NFL teams routinely start rookies when they know there season is over so as to get them experience for next season. Kind of shame because at the very least England owes it to their fans to out their best XV out there.
But Ireland is banged up and not exactly at their best so who knows, it could be a good match.
Or a real sh*t show…
(On Mar 12th, 2008 at 12:42 pm)
i don’t see anything wrong with the move. england is officially out of contention, so they might as well see what they have in cipriani. and who knows, maybe he ignites an otherwise unimpressive backline against a potentially defensively frail irish team (sans starting midfielders).
furthermore, ashton is rumored to have effectively lost his job due to his inability to produce any kind of attack beyond his forwards. maybe in the off chance that cipriani leads them to score a crap-load of points, he saves his job?
(On Mar 12th, 2008 at 12:48 pm)
I think it further shows that Ashton has lost it. Certainly he is desperate. Isn’t his contract good until 2011?
(On Mar 13th, 2008 at 10:56 am)
I was wrong, Ashton apparently has no job security. However, that article talks about new coaches, perhaps Jake White, which would undoubtedly affect the team style.
(On Mar 16th, 2008 at 4:11 pm)
I see nothing wrong with Cipriani starting infact I sww this as a positive move bringing in the youngsters and changung style, if the Stellenboch proposals go through we will all have to adopt a more attacking style. On the other hand Scotland are not bleeding young players at vital positions such as stand-off and this comes back to bit them every time they have to play Dan Parks, or is it Dean Park, in this role.
Let young men have their chance and allow them to grow into the role.