It turns out I was wrong
England
vs.
Argentina Investec Challenge Match Review 11-11-06
It turns out I was wrong.
Apparently the spectre of a record-equalling seventh straight defeat was not
enough to motivate an
England
side who trotted out onto the Twickenham turf on Saturday, seemingly under the
impression that the shirts on their backs were only there to keep them warm. As
it turned out, they would have been better served mopping up the blood, sweat
and tears dripping from every Argentine pore as the Pumas came away with their
first every victory at the home of English Rugby.
I would have liked to spend this entire
review talking about
Argentina
. No, not talking about, praising Argentina without using terms like ‘surprise
victory’, ‘commitment’, ‘passion’ or any of the other patronising
rubbish that this excellent side has had to tolerate for far too long.
Argentina
were, and are, very, very good indeed. The strength of their scrum has never
been in doubt, but in Juan Martin Fernandez-Lobbe and Juan Miguel Leguizamon
they boast two of the most complete flankers in World Rugby; both men carried
powerfully and rucked
England
’s hapless back row back to the Stone Age for 80 minutes on Saturday. Agustin
Pichot has hardly played a game all season, but with Felipe Contepomi, and
replacement Frederico Todeschini, he oozed supreme command and authority. This
side does not ‘deserve respect’, it is not to be ‘underestimated at your
peril’, it is in the toughest group at the World Cup, but
Argentina
will make it out. How can they be denied the place in a major competition that
they so crave and so deserve?
After 32
minutes, things weren’t looking so bad for
England
. An early Charlie Hodgson penalty had given them the lead, and Paul Sackey had
just danced his way into the corner for a superb individual score. Put into
space by crisp passes from Anthony Allen and Hodgson, the Wasps winger danced in
and out of an impossibly small gap before straightening beautifully on Argentine
full-back Juan Martin Hernandez and rounding him to touch down for the try,
which was duly converted by Hodgson. But this was the
high point
of a half in which
England
had promised little. Besides one break from Allen, where the 20-year-old failed
to see a wide open Ben Cohen outside him, all the pressure belonged to the
visitors to whom every loose ball seemed to fall.
It was
Argentina
who would have been more comfortable at half-time, having cut
England
’s lead to 10-9 with two late penalties from Todeschini. Indiscipline at the
breakdown and a series of sloppy offsides led to penalties all over the field
against Andy Robinson’s England, and as he did in open play Contepomi poked
and probed his way in behind England’s defence, ably assisted by his forwards
who chased and harried with a veracity of which England’s aged pack could only
dream. While Hodgson missed touch time and again, Contepomi exercised exquisite
control; while the home side’s back row loitered and lingered in the back
line,
Argentina
’s scrapped and carried like oversized pitbulls, forcing countless turnovers
in addition to propagating
England
’s humiliatingly high penalty count.
Ten minutes and three Todeschini points
into the second half came the substitutions. Hodgson and Shaun Perry, for their
lack of control or precision, made way for Toby Flood, winning his first cap,
and Peter Richards while Tom Palmer replaced Danny Grewcock and Josh Lewsey
displaced a limping Sackey. Immediately, Richards forced a turnover, something
his forwards had failed to do in 53 minutes previously, and
England
made their way upfield. From a ruck near the
Argentina
22, Flood stretched to take a difficult pass, and soon wished he hadn’t
bothered as his ball to Allen was plucked out of the air by Todeshini, who raced
under the posts unchallenged to take his side into a 19-10 lead.
On the hour mark, a break from Pat Sanderson nearly set up a try for Cohen but
the winger was hauled down near the line by none other than lock Ignacio
Fernandez Lobbe. What an indictment this is: one week, 20st of Carl Hayman
finishes a length of the field move for
New Zealand
, and now a second row makes a covering tackle on a winger, while
England
’s forwards lumber from place to place, time after time, with the speed of a
broken down JCB. From the resulting ruck, Richard’s slow service was exposed
as, lie Perry many times before him, he was sacked by the Argentine forwards,
and the slow ball could only produce a penalty under the posts, which Flood
converted for his first International points.
A minute later,
England
’s second moment of inspiration came when Richards tapped and went quickly
from a penalty before feeding Balshaw in midfield, who cut through the line
before breaking left and out sprinting the defence to score in the corner. Too
close to the corner, unfortunately, for Flood who snatched at the conversion
that would have put
England
ahead. From then on, the visitors slowed the game down, utilising their big
forwards and garnering two more penalties, one of them epitomising
England
’s performance as Julian White was caught offside drifting back from a
previous ruck at a speed barely noticeable as any sort of motion at all. What is
more embarrassing is that he was beating Perry Freshwater by a full two yards.
The metronomic Todeschini converted both chances to leave the final score at
25-18 to
Argentina
I feel sorry for some
England
fans after that game. Not for those who feel their £45 only bought them a seat
from which to observe an utter humiliation; not for those who rightfully demand
more from their player; certainly not for those who jeered Argentine kickers,
cheered Hodgson from the field, booed at the final whistle like a group of idiot
schoolchildren when they should have been applauding the victorious Argentina
team as an embarrassed minority did. I feel sorry for the
England
fans naïve enough to believe all of Robinson’s rubbish. At no point in the
last three years have England been “moving forward”; at no point have they
put up a display of which to be proud in defeat; at no point has our World Cup
defence been even remotely on track.
I wore my
England
shirt all day on Sunday as a show of defiance to all those who have crept out
of the woodwork, in the public and the press, suddenly calling for Robinson’s
head after seven consecutive losses. Were they proud of six consecutive losses?
Were they proud of a record defeat to
New Zealand
? Were they proud of
England
’s spring performances in
Paris
, and against
Ireland
? There is nothing wrong with this
England
team that has not been painfully clear for any time up to three years.
Forwards littering the backline. A lack
of a discernable strategy. Peculiar substitutions. A pack so immobile they would
have preferred to take the team bus onto the field with them.. No protection for
the scrum half. No pressure on the opposition half-backs. No quick ball. A back
row that was appallingly absent at the breakdown and so terribly unbalanced –
Robinson, as we have found out, would know balance if he saw a flamingo on a
pommel horse. Pick one of those that wasn’t a problem at the Millennium
Stadium in February 2005, I challenge each of you. You can now add to that list
a complete lack of passion. As things began to slide in the second half, every
English player must have known that they were effectively (if not immediately as
Rob Andrew has confirmed) playing for their coach’s job, but did any of them
seem to care? There is a lack of faith in Robinson’s plans that the players
carry with them onto the field and it shows in the timid nature of every action
the team takes.
To go over the specific problems facing
the tactics and personnel of this team would take much more time than I have to
spare. But I will finish by saying this: If I see Martin Corry and Julian White
on the teamsheet for the South Africa Test this coming weekend, I will not be
watching.
And
so it is. A record run of defeats, and a nation of rugby fans finally wakes up.
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