the road to
the world cup
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The Road
the Worl
England
Playing 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 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
10 Issue 55
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
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 triumph
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.