England's Coaches

Interesting article here on the different aspects and personalities of England's four coaches. Get through the cliches and it's quite interesting reading...

Stuart Lancaster: The Good Cop

Lancaster will not panic, nor rant, nor issue rollickings for England’s flagrancy against Italy. He has always kept an even keel, not drunk with joy (which would have been entirely merited) after that landmark victory over New Zealand nor reached for the teacups to hurl across the dressing room after Sunday’s let-down.

His players have fed off that equanimity. They, too, have been steadfast and unflustered when they have been under the cosh, notably on a sodden day in Dublin.

It is no coincidence that character is hailed as one of this team’s core attributes. England are Lancaster personified. The head coach will spend the next few days reinforcing the values of this team, reminding his players of the good things they have done, massaging that belief and geeing them up for the big one.

Lancaster has a couple of selection issues to tend to, notably restoring Ben Youngs and Owen Farrell at half-back, perhaps drafting Tom Croft into the starting XV. He also has to work out what to do with an off-colour Chris Ashton.

One more thing remains for Lancaster – he should remind his squad of the last time they came under critical fire. It was after their defeat by South Africa in November. Seven days later they trounced the All Blacks.

Andy Farrell: The Bad Cop?

In part, but to portray Farrell merely as a stern-voiced sergeant major knocking his boys into shape ahead of battle is to misunderstand him. Farrell has a keen eye for technical detail.

He knows what it takes to shore up a defence. England’s had been pretty reliable until Sunday’s howler, Danny Care’s skewed kick ending in a well-crafted try for Luke McLean. England had conceded three in three games prior to that.

Farrell is also a rallying point for this group, which is why Lancaster was so relieved that his right-hand man did an about-turn when signing up last summer after initially heading back to Saracens. Farrell is a big presence, literally, emotionally, psychologically.

Even when a cause appears hopeless, Farrell makes people believe. He stiffens sinews and hardens minds. If it needs fighting talk to achieve that, then Farrell can do verbals as well as any. More likely, though, is that he will deliver insight through strategy and then ladle on the emotion.

Farrell’s rugby intellect is every bit as crisp and forceful as one of his juddering tackles. As the minutes tick down at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday, Farrell’s persona, that of the sporting warrior, will inhabit every England player. He is the go-to man in these situations. England need 15 of them out on the field.

Graham Rowntree: The Old Slugger

Rowntree’s face speaks of knowledge hewn from the coal face, of a man chiselling and grafting for whatever there is of value to be found. England need every last drop of that experience this week.

Wales’s scrum has grown in stature throughout the championship. Rowntree has to find a way to neuter the impact of the Wales folk-hero, tighthead Adam Jones, who gave Italy the hurry-up in Rome and also made the Scots creak and wince.

England’s first-choice loosehead, Alex Corbisiero, is injured. Joe Marler has been serviceable and Mako Vunipola did well on his starting debut against Italy. But England need to be rock solid, stable and unwavering. If they are not, their back row is tied in and their half-backs are on their heels rather than their toes. On this does so much rest.

If Rowntree gets his scrummaging men sorted, then England’s prospects are greatly enhanced. Rowntree suffers for his cause, taking every scrum or line-out lost as a personal affront.

Again, he is part technical guru, part tone setter. The line-out improved against Italy with only one blob. The scrum, too, began well. In these next few days Rowntree will assume a critical role.

Mike Catt: Attacking skills coach

This is a man with a lot on his plate, too, this week. Catt is the newest acquisition to the coaching panel having earned his spurs in South Africa last summer. His focus is on the future, to nurture emerging talent and to bring greater edge as well as nuance to England’s attacking play.

That long-term project is on ice. Catt has to effect a short-term fix. England’s attack is blunt. After a four-try rattle against Scotland, they have managed only one try in their past three games. Wales, by contrast, have not conceded a try in over three games, 272 minutes and counting.

England have only two training sessions this week as they recuperate with a six-day turnaround. Billy Twelvetrees would bring more guile to midfield but Brad Barritt is the defensive rock up against Jamie Roberts. Ben Foden to return at full-back to give greater running threat from the rear? Not enough time to reintegrate him.

No, Catt, like the other coaches, has to look back if they are to look forward to glory on Saturday evening. An England back line prospered against New Zealand through hard running, clever decoys, sharp angles and quick hands. That has to be Catt’s mantra for the week.

n England back line prospered against New Zealand through hard running, clever decoys, sharp angles and quick hands.

which begs the question, where was all that on Sunday?

It's all about quick ball. You had that against NZ and Scotland, yet Italy managed to slow you down (I think conditions against Ireland and France played a part in those games).

My view is that England lack a dynamic ball carrier. With a back row of Haskell, Robshaw and Wood, there are too many indians and not enough chiefs. I think Billy Vunipola should start against Wales, as should his brother in the front row. It would be a hugely bold call, but England need to find some potent ball carriers and then surround them with quick adept breakdown players.

Do that and Mike Catt's job is made ten times easier, and England will look useful again, bringing Goode in as a playmaker, rather than using him solely as a defensive or counter-attacking fullback (Brown and Foden are both better in this role).

I like the England coaching team. Generally speaking a young and modern coaching team, fairly open-minded and flexible with a healthy dose of pragmatism. The coaches and the team are growing together, which sets England up nicely for the future (whatever happens on Saturday).

Wales present a tough challenge. Good pack, strong and powerful backs and a usually proficient goal kicker (off day at Murrayfield). Pretty evenly matched in my opinion.

fEs

Agree about the lack of a ball carrier in the back row - all three are competent around the fringes and Wood has a bit of pace if he gets past the initial defender, but in the absence of Morgan we lack a really powerful open field runner who takes two or three men to stop and who can slip an off-load to a support player.

Against Scotland, the off-load from contact was a key feature of the attack - put the second ball carrier past the gain line and so made it much easier to generate the quick ball for the next phase. It becomes something of a virtuous circle, as the quick ball then lets the next carrier attack a less well organised defence and so get more ground.

It's an interesting assessment of the coaching set up - I get the impression that Lancaster is a little in the Woodward mould of being calmly analytical and perhaps a bit detached from the nitty gritty of the technical work.

Funnyexiledscot I agree with pretty much all of that.

Don't know why there are some calls to drop Mako Vunipola. I thought he made some good carries, was solid in the scrum and sucked in defenders.

As you say if you add his brother to the mix you add another powerful ball carrier.

I think the absence of Morgan can't be underestimated.

Coaches can only do so much,poor skills and execution on the pitch is down to the players.

beshocked wrote:Funnyexiledscot I agree with pretty much all of that.

Don't know why there are some calls to drop Mako Vunipola. I thought he made some good carries, was solid in the scrum and sucked in defenders.

As you say if you add his brother to the mix you add another powerful ball carrier.

I think the absence of Morgan can't be underestimated.

You also add a European earthquake and possibly a tsunami... Nope, it's much too tectonically unsound a plan to add two Vunipola's to any team.

No problems with the Vunipolas starting at all. MV does have good hands and is destructive. The only thing is that I dont know what Billy will be like but the one certainty is that MV wont last 80 minutes

Woodward spoke a lot on Sunday about new players dealing a lot better with big pressure games, a combination of no baggage and the excitement of their first cap helping them get through it.

I don't think the experience of the respective squads will matter much. The Welsh players may have seen it all before, but I somehow can't see Cole, Launchbury, Wood, Robshaw, Youngs, Farrell, Tuilagi et al "choking" because of the occassion.

This will come down to tactics and skill, and abilities on the field of play. Sure, the first 10 minutes will probably be frantic, but the game will settle down sure enough, and from then on the players each have their jobs to do.

My money is on England to win by 5 or less.

Mako Vunipola was getting pasted in the scrum by the time he went off, but he did very well there against Castrogiovanni in the first half. Slight concern as Jones is much better than Castro these days, but we need his carrying.

I'd agree with starting Billy Vunipola. It's a big ask of him, but we needed someone like him badly yesterday, and while Wood has been fantastic at what he does, our attack has suffered badly without a big carrier at 8.