england
six nations
England
Six Nations
P
laying in the final game of the Six Nations, England
was left with a scenario of knowing exactly what
they needed to do to claim the Championship. In
defeating the French by 55 points to 35 they fell one score short
of the victory margin needed to claim the title from defending
Champions Ireland.
Positives
Despite France’s struggles throughout the tournament, putting
fifty points on them is no easy task and the vibrant running rugby
that England were able to produce should provide them with
plenty of reason for optimism moving forwards.
Throughout the tournament their half backs gave their back line
a terrific platform and the emergence of George Ford at fly-half
was a major positive throughout the tournament. With a number
of players missing through injury, England’s ability to compete at
a high level also served to highlight their strength in depth.
To Work On
the start of the tournament 4 wins and a defeat would probably
been about what you’d have expected them to do and their
performances were generally positive.
The Future
Despite England’s encouraging progress, they still have a lot of
work to do if they are to enjoy a successful World Cup. It will be
important for them to be clinical from the get go with Australia
and Wales sharing their Group.
Although the win against Wales will have increased their
confidence, truthfully it was a game that the Welsh let slip away
and England are going to have to progress if they are to have a
successful tournament.
It is important that they do not get caught up on simply making
it through a difficult group as they will get few better chances to
go after their 2nd World Cup than the one presented this summer.
They’ve a lot of work to do between now and their opening game
if they are to fulfil the dreams of a Nation in emulating Jonny
Wilkinson, Sir Clive Woodward and the rest.
The major set-back for England was the defeat to Ireland in a
game in which they never really threatened to pull off a
victory. One of the major areas for concern in this match
came from Ireland outmuscling them at the breakdown
which was also a problem in some of their other
matches and needs to be addressed.
The other concern for England will be that
although they were able to create plenty of
chances they were not always as clinical
as they could have been. This was what
ultimately led to them falling just short
of claiming the title and is something
that they will be keen to rectify.
Conclusions
England has every right to be
happy with the majority of their
Six Nations as they look like a
side making progress. The only
game that they lost was to an
Ireland side that is a little bit
better than them in a number of
key areas.
Their backs are showing real
signs of having a genuine cutting
edge and defeating Wales in
Cardiff was a terrific result. At
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