A Brief History of English New Dawns

It was a pleasure, and a relief, to watch England's win over New Zealand. As a supporter, it is tempting to look ahead with some hope but progress rarely goes in a straight line. We`ve been in this position before.

In 1987, England had a miserable World Cup, losing to Wales in the first knock-out round. In the years since the Grand Slam win of 1980, the team had failed to hit any real heights. There was a famous win over the All Blacks at Twickenham in 1983 - which featured Ben and Tom Youngs`s father, Nick - but the following year brought the all-conquering Wallabies who showed the Home Unions how the rugby should be played.

New Dawn Number 1

When the Five Nations started in 1988, the team had changed a little but hopes weren`t high. Losses to France and Wales doomed the team to another unsuccessful championship but England did manage to claim the Calcutta Cup with a dour 6-9 win over Scotland. And then we got to the final match against Ireland at Twickenham. There had been signs against France that England were looking more sprightly in attack but nothing prepared the crowd for what followed. The home side scored six tries, including a Chris Oti hat-trick, running out 35-3 winners. Finally, some champagne rugby.

Ireland finished last in the table that year so we still needed to see how the team would go against better opposition. The new season brought Australia to Twickenham in November 1988. Memories of the Grand Slam Wallabies from 1984 were still fresh and the visitors had Farr-Jones, Lynagh and Campese in the back line. They combined to score three tries but England more than matched them. Led by Will Carling in the centre, the home side scored four tries, including a brace from Rory Underwood, winning the match 28-19. Don't believe me? Take a look:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcXtU-deOa4

Marvellous. New dawn confirmed. There are more than a few similarities with the game we just saw England play against New Zealamd.

Things looked bright for the 1989 Five Nations but hopes of a Grand Slam to match 1980 fell at the first hurdle. England could only manage a draw against Scotland. Wins over Ireland and France showed what might have been but Paul Thorburn penalties gave Wales a 12-9 victory. Welsh rugby might have been losing top players to rugby league but it seemed they could still rely on beating England.

Nevertheless, there was a healthy English contingent on the Lions tour to Australia later that year. McGeechan initially trusted old hands from the other home nations for his first XV. By the second Test, however, the balance had shifted to the English pack and the Lions came from behind to take the series.

Buoyed by this success, England entered the 1990 Five Nations feeling that surely a championship was within their grasp. Stuart Barnes was favoured by many as the man who could bring out the best in England`s exciting back line but Rob Andrew had shown he knew how to control a game and was selected ahead of him.

The early games showed all the old promise of 1988, as England ran rampant over Ireland (23-0), France (7-26) and Wales (34-6). New dawn re-confirmed and a Grand Slam looked very possible. Yes, Scotland were also unbeaten, but how could they defend against England`s attack? YouTube tells you the answer. I can't find any clips to share with you of those victories but you can watch Tony Stanger scoring his try for Scotland a dozen times over.

End of New Dawn Number 1

What the Geech giveth, the Geech taketh away. The Scottish coach had helped instill belief in the England players during the their time with the Lions but he also had a shrewd idea of how to put them off their game.

The loss in Murrayfield left deep scars in the England rugby psyche. They would go on to win back-to-back Grand Slams but there was no more champagne rugby to match those two games in 1988, and the first three in 1990. Pragmatism was the order of the day and the forward pack ground opponents into submission. Why did England try to run the ball in the 1991 World Cup final? Contrary to subsequent claims, it wasn't alien to the England team, it was actually the foundation of their early success. However, they had spent too long suppressing their attacking instincts in the name of securing wins and the execution was poor. England were not to be World Champions.

Nevertheless, England began to feel a sense of entitlement. The pain of World Cup defeat was eased a little with the second Grand Slam in 1992 but all was not going smoothly. Surely Guscott and the Underwoods should be doing more behind a dominant pack. The 1993 Five Nations saw the team stutter to a 16-15 win over France before - oh, the horror - Wales pulled off a 10-9 win to remind everyone that Le Crunch was not automatically the championship decider. Where on earth was England's attack?

New Dawn Number 2

The selectors finally caved and dropped Rob Andrew in favour of Stuart Barnes. My goodness, Barnes made it all look so easy. Scotland were dispatched 26-12 as the Bath man created space for Guscott and the Underwood brothers all to run in tries.

It felt like 1988 all over again. With a genuine playmaker at flyhalf, English supporters sat back ready to watch our forward platform once again translate into tries on the board. Unfortunately, Ireland had other ideas. England misfired badly at Landsdowne Road and could only score a Jon Webb penalty. Ireland racked up 17 points and left the field victorious. Barnes was picked for the Lions that year but never played again for England.

End of New Dawn Number 2

English fans of this era felt they should be beating the best regularly but the team was inconsistent. Geoff Cooke had coached England to unprecedented success but his team wasn't winning many fans for their style of play. Cooke's achievements led to him managing the Lions in New Zealand in 1993. They lost the series but his England side earned a measure of revenge later that same year, beating the All Blacks at Twickenham.

He then took England into the 1994 Five Nations. It was another unsuccessful year. England squeaked past Scotland but a Simon Geoghan try brought saw Ireland victorious at Fortress Twickenham. It still hurts so much, I'm tempted to be petty and make you find the clip yourself. Oh, here it is, if you insist:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lc2VZb1Fm2g

Cooke then dropped a bombshell. He was contracted until the 1995 World Cup but announced his intention to resign once after he'd seen out the final two matches of the tournament. These were actually wins against Wales and France but were not sufficient to stop Wales taking the title on points difference.

New Dawn Number 3

England turned to Jack Rowell. How could that not be good news? Rowell was the guiding light behind Bath, one of the country's most successful and exciting clubs. That's where Jerry Guscott and Stuart Barnes worked their magic. Would Rowell think of resurrecting his club flyhalf's international career? Apparently, not. He did make a lot of good noises about reducing the focus on an all-conquering pack which seemed to promise much.

One of his first acts was to take England on tour to South Africa. The 1994 vintage Springboks were never the no-hopers depicted in Clint Eastwood's "Invictus" but England certainly felt they had a chance. If someone offers you the opportunity to see clips of the first Test in that series then take it. Even if you aren't an England fan, you'll see a remarkable display from Tim Rodber, who seemingly took on the opposition single-handed. England scored so quickly, and so often, I swear it felt like the match was won after only twenty minutes.

1995 brought a return to Grand Slam form and it looked like Rowell might have freshened England up for the World Cup. Rob Andrew steered England clear over Australia in a famous win, a small measure of revenge for the lost final four years before. In truth, though, the Carling era was drawing to a close and Jonah Lomu gave the team a rude awakening as he bundled us out of the tournament with a demonstration of unstoppable power.

End of New Dawn Number 3

Rowell stayed on for a little longer but never quite delivered on his 15-man rugby promise. England claimed the 1996 Five Nations title but lost to France along the way - a team the English had been beating regularly since 1990. In 1997, England dispatched the other home Nations handsomely but lost out again to France, who swept to a Grand Slam. More worryingly, we weren't winning much against the Southern Hemisphere teams.

For most rugby fans, "1997" and "tour" can only mean the British and Irish Lions in South Africa. England were actually also touring Argentina at the time, where captain Phil De Glanville led his side to a drawn series. Bizarrely, the England squad then travelled to Australia where they were joined by the demob-happy English Lions contingent for a one-off match against the Wallabies. Which scheduling genius came up with that idea? The home side won 25-6. If you want to know why so many England players wanted to avoid touring in 1998, it has its roots in that mad end to the summer of 1997.

Well, that was the end of Jack Rowell and the RFU took an imaginative leap by appointing Clive Woodward.

New Dawn Number 4

Clive Woodward's new dawn was longer in the making. The team went three years without a Five Nations championship and failed again at the 1999 World Cup. There were always signs that England had the makings of a good team but captain Dallaglio turned down penalties in 2000 and left the door open for Wales to deny England another Grand Slam. It was a bitter pill to swallow but, in 2001, everything finally clicked and Woodward`s team played some of the most devastating rugby of the time to put away Wales (15-44), Italy (80-23), Scotland (43-3) and France (48-19). This was surely Woodward's new dawn and England fans were once again delirious. What do you mean foot-and-mouth disease?

Oh, that`s right. The potential Grand Slam match was delayed until the autumn. Scotland put Ireland away easily enough but England had lost momentum during the months that had passed. Balshaw returned from the Lions a much lesser man and the tour appeared to disrupt a few others too. No Southern Hemisphere team beat England from the middle of 2000 to after the World Cup but Ireland managed to do so in 2001. And then France won Le Crunch in 2002.

The promise of 2001 was finally realized with the 2003 Grand Slam and World Cup win but Woodward's team was arguably on its last legs. The man himself last only a few more months before handing in his resignation.

End of New Dawn Number 4

I can't recall a new dawn moment while Andy Robinson was in charge. Let's draw a veil over his tenure and move on.

Brian Ashton had neither the time nor scope to change the direction of the England team ahead of the 2007 World Cup. Shane Geraghty raised some hopes after coming off the bench in the 2007 Six Nations win over France but we stumbled through the group stages at the tournament later that year. Our eventual progress to the final was a testament to sheer bloody-mindedness. It didn't seem to provide any pointers for the future.

Danny Cipriani impressed mightily against Ireland in 2008 but couldn't save Brian Ashton, who no longer enjoyed the confidence of the RFU. That confidence was placed instead in Martin Johnson.

New Dawn Number 5

Martin Johnson was wheeled out in front of the press, who largely refrained from questioning his credentials in favour of nostagically recalling Wilkinson's drop goal. There was some confusion over when he would actually take the reins but no real concern.

Rob Andrew then went on to preside over an unsuccesful tour to New Zealand which ended in r*** allegations being levelled at a group of England players.

End of New Dawn Number 5

Things hadn't got off to a great start but we all pressed the reset button and decided that Johnson was only really taking charge from the 2008 Autum Internationals.

It's fair to say Johnson's England took time to gel. There were flashes of excellence but too many moments of panic. These were usually accompanied by images of Johnson gnashing his teeth or driving his fist into his palm. His second new dawn probably dates to the victory over Australia in the second summer Test in 2010.

New Dawn Number 6

England had the scrum to take Australia to the cleaners but couldn't make it count in the first Test. In the second, England began to click. Johnson appeared to have found a blend of youth an experience which coud pose threats to any team. A few months later, when the Wallabies turned up at Twickenham, the selection suddenly looked very right. Australia were beaten handily by a team with an ambitious gameplan.

Johnson's team England on to win the Six Nations in 2011 but couldn't claim a Grand Slam owing to an inconvenient thrashing at the hands off Ireland in the last game. No matter, we said, although a little bemused. Bring on the World Cup!

End of New Dawn Number 6

Did Johnson bottle it after the Irish game by choosing to revert to more conservative tactics and personnel? Was the squad undone by off the field affairs? Take your pick but the end result is that England couldn't get through France and went out at the quarter final stages having played some very underwhelming rugby.

And now we are here with Stuart Lancaster. In all probability, his new dawn won't follow any of the previous patterns. It would be a surprise nonetheless if he steered England straight to a Six Nations win next year. Most of the Red Rose new dawns have seen early setbacks even where they have turned out to be the real thing.

For the moment, though, England supporters can take some time to start creating some rosy scenarios before reality intrudes. After all, perhaps this time it will be different...

I knew a Dawn once, she always reminded me that it took more than one good performance to win her over. Think England will go soft too

Argueably you could apply 'new dawn' to just about every national team in the world. A much over used term for England, but great read none the less.

Interesting several points maybe of interest in there first 15 games both Robinson and Ashton won more games in the 15 of there tenure before sacking
Than Sir Clive Woodward.It is genarally agreed even by the RFU Ashton sackings was a mistake.
Under Martin Johnson the two matches versus Australia,England were outplayed in both the games By Australia.Only at Scrum time were England superior only poor Goalkicking enabled them to edge a win in the Second match.They also lost to Nz Maori where Charlie Hodgeson had an incredible game until subbed for some reason.
Ashton`s Try just before half time was the turning point in the return match.
Giteau in the box,PENALTY to Oz in 22 right in front of the posts a gimme.
NO Genia goes for a tap,turned over two passes Ashton goes the length of the field Game Over.
England had a great win over an out of sorts AB team proving any side can win a one off game.
The Team probably will be pulled apart as injured or other missing players return.
THAT may strengthen or weaken the team we have yet to see Ireland and France look very strong currently.
Only a fool will write off Wales even after there recent displays they are only minus one in all games played between the countries.

Excellent article RF, did you write it purely for here or for a blog of some kind?

Unfortunately what you write is all too true though I don't think it's a especially unique to England. Being a fan of any country in any sport surely entails the roller coaster ride of ups downs, thrills spills, hopes raised and dreams dashed and frankly, most of us wouldn't have it any other way.

And something else, I clearly remember seeing a new dawn once and guess what, it wasn't a false one! That England team won a WC and I for one will never forget it. I dearly hope we'll do so again, perhaps with many of the players we saw on Saturday but who knows, that's for another day. Till then it's a great ride, even if sometimes it does make you feel a little sick!

rainbow-warrior wrote:I knew a Dawn once, she always reminded me that it took more than one good performance to win her over...............

So.......you never won her over, did you mate?????

Very good, I remember a lot of that.
Plus we've now had our once a decade loss to England so we'll look forward to the next one in 2022- can't wait!

Another new Dawn- she'll be getting old by then.

Methinks she's been old and about for quite a while, mate.
Long in the tooth, as it were (if she still has any teeth).

Taylorman wrote:Very good, I remember a lot of that.
Plus we've now had our once a decade loss to England so we'll look forward to the next one in 2022- can't wait!

Another new Dawn- she'll be getting old by then.

You lost to us twice last decade.

Looking forward to 2015...

doctor_grey wrote:

rainbow-warrior wrote:I knew a Dawn once, she always reminded me that it took more than one good performance to win her over...............

So.......you never won her over, did you mate?????

NO! as I said, like england everything went soft again.

I see england like a Tracy from essex rather than a Dawn. Has a great night out but alas the heel on her white stilettos falls off and she limps home.

Taylorman wrote:... we've now had our once a decade loss to England so we'll look forward to the next one in 2022...

It was a comment by Trevor McKewen prompted me to look back at England's rugby progress through the years. After Saturday's game he wrote:

For close to two decades now, England has been urged to shed its conservative forward-orientated game and develop a true 15-man approach. For all of that time, its coaches and captains have resolutely refused to embrace real rugby. That changed last weekend.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/opinion/8028683/England-provide-the-spark-test-rugby-needed

McKewen didn't set out to bag England. In fact, he is quite complimentary about the performance and believes the result is good for our sport. However, his comment did demonstrate how little attention he must have paid to English rugby in the two decade span to which he refers.

It's not entirely his fault: he's a New Zealander. The truth is, England's purple patches have seen them take it out on other Six Nations sides, as well as Australia and South Africa, but never really against the All Blacks. That's one thing which sets this recent win apart from other fine wins. We couldn't overcome Australia or the Boks this Autumn but did finally switch it on against NZ.

The Wallabies saw England's 1988 new dawn at first hand. However, the first match Carling's England played against New Zealand was in the 1991 World Cup group stages nearly three year's later. By that time, the Murrayfield defeat had left its mark and England's attack had gone back into its shell. New Zealand won that group match easily, and must have wondered why anyone imagined England would be a sterner challenge.

England under Geoff Cooke did get a win at Twickenham in 1993 but it wasn't enough to make any All Black supporter reconsider their opinion of English rugby. Next up was Jack Rowell's England, who outplayed the Springboks in the first Test in 1994 just as we had outplayed Australia in 1988. A Grand Slam followed but what happens the first time we next meet New Zealand? It's the semi-final of the 1995 World Cup and we are smashed 45-29.

Most New Zealand supporters probably can't even remember Jack Rowell's name these days, let alone acknowledge that his England played a different style of rugby to the 1991 and 1992 Grand Slam winning sides. And why should they? England were still posing no real theat to the All Blacks no matter what results they achieved elsewhere.

A couple of years later, Rowell's England began misfiring and he stepped down. One of Woodward's first challenges was a pair of back-to-back home Tests against New Zealand in the autumn of 1997. We never looked at the races in the first match but pulled out the stops for the second, jumping out to a surprising lead before the All Blacks hauled us back in for a draw.

Some of the All Black opposition that day complained about the English players applauding the crowd in what a looked like a lap of honour. How disrespectful, and typically arrogant of the English, they thought, for the team to act as if they had won a game they had only managed to draw. The incident is still brought up as a stick to beat the English today.

To my mind, it was quite the opposite. It was an indication of complete respect. England were overjoyed not to have been smashed to kingdom come. They were also delighted that they had put on a decent showing at a non-traditional rugby venue. The North of the country doesn't see much Test rugby so the players wanted to thank the Old Trafford crowd for their support. The message was lost in translation and the All Blacks came away from England still wondering why anyone had ever talked up England.

It's another freak of scheduling that England had probably their best run of performances during a three year period - October '99 to November 2002 - where they didn't play New Zealand once. The November 2002 match was a win for the home side and was followed up by a victory in Wellington. That was the first and only time for England to register back-to-back wins.

However, the media talk about "white orcs on steroids", and Englands ageing pack, indicated that some All Black supporters simply drew a straight line from 1991 to 2002 and assumed the team had maintained the same gameplan all the way through. I don't think Woodward's England are fully recognized for their range of skills in New Zealand for that reason.

To hear some talk, you'd think 10 man rugby had always been the English way. It would surely surprise them to hear John Pullin's comments just after the his team's 1973 win over the all Blacks at Eden Park "I think they were under the impression we were going to run it all the time" (he says this at the 21:50 mark). How could a New Zealand team ever think England might do that?



Of course, it didn't help that the All Blacks got an early opportunity to test how good World Cup-winning England were in summer 2004. By then, however, Woodward's World Cup side was past its peak. They had already lost two Six Nations matches when they toured, and went down very easily in both Tests. New Zealanders couldn't deny that they had lost in both 2002 and 2003 but these results almost began to seem like an aberration, rather than evidence that England had been the most complete side in world rugby at the time.

I can't blame a hack like Trevor McKewen for trotting out the line about England refusing to embrace a 15-man approach over the decades. His attitude explains why some in NZ feel Saturday's game was akin to a bad dream. If they had bothered to watch England play over the years, through several new dawns, they would have seen them unleash that kind of performance against other sides on numerous occasions. But not against the All Blacks.

Who knows whether Lancaster can find a side with the consistency to win some trophies. If you are going to beat New Zealand, though, it's no bad thing to be doing it in style with a relatively young and inexperienced side.

Beaker wrote:...did you write it purely for here or for a blog of some kind

Just wrote it for here. As you are probably starting to realize, get me on the subject of English rugby over the years, and I succumb to heavy bouts of verbal diarrhoea.

Just wrote it for here. As you are probably starting to realize, get me on the subject of English rugby over the years, and I succumb to heavy bouts of verbal diarrhoea.

Noravirus?

Good read, haven't done all of it yet but will dip in and read bits and pieces.

Ah Jack Rowell.....Cost Neil Back 30 odd caps as he deemed him "Too small" for a back row forward.

Strange how he found place for Andy( wrong side) Robinson who at the same height was tall enough.

I remember Jack Rowell,also Geoff Cooke,Dick Best et al besides SCW,stastically he was THE most succesful England Coach in Recent
times post 1980.I also remember RWC 1995 and "LOMU Day"the
fact no matter how many times they`ve beaten NZ[7]they`ve
never done it in a RWC.Unlike France THE most successful team NH[12]
versus the AB`s they`ve done it twice.

Good write up RF.
This should really be published on the blog.

Cracking read RF

Verbal diarrhoea suits you sir!

Ah - Tim Rodber vs the Boks - one of the great single player performances

Great article!

I suppose you could argue that quite a few of those 'dawns' turned out to be fully fledged sunny days. Sadly much like being on the equator, one moment it was hot and sunny and the next the sun had set and the mosquitos were out and biting.

Tim Rodber, what a great performance that was. A back row of him, Deano and Ben Clarke, those were the days...!

Good read, it brought back memories of watching rugby on tv with my dad and grandad.

great article, but ya beat me to the punch :/