ALMOST THREE DAYS have passed since England’s loss against Wales at Twickenham, but the tremors of that defeat are still reverberating across the country.
Press, pundits and ex-players alike have stuck the boot into Stuart Lancaster’s squad over the past 72 hours since their 28-25 defeat at the hands of the Welsh in south-west London. Captain Chris Robshaw has been pilloried for his decision to turn down a kickable penalty that would have drawn the game late on.
Graham Henry said England “melted” at Twickenham while he branded Robshaw’s late penalty call “perplexing” and “mind-numbing”. Clive Woodward said England looked like “amateurs playing against streetwise professionals” in the final quarter, but the most stinging jibe of the lot came from former England captain Will Carling.
Speaking to the BBC, Carling slammed Lancaster and his coaching staff for treating the squad like “schoolboys” and likening the set-up to a “classroom-orientated environment” bereft of leaders.
“We have a very prescriptive environment in the England team,” said Carling. “I’ve listened to Stuart Lancaster say for years that ‘I don’t have the leaders and therefore we’re having to make all the decisions as coaches’. It’s a very classroom-orientated environment. My view is that he has had leaders and that he needed to have trusted them and develop them.
What we watched in the last 10 minutes was a confused debate between people who have never been given responsibility to lead and drive the team. Instead we’ve treated them as schoolboys.
It set the tone for an explosive day ahead of England’s first press conference of the week following their shambolic display against Warren Gatland’s side.
England have returned to the plush surroundings of Pennyhill Park in Bagshot. A luxurious five-star spa resort nestled away in remote Surrey complete with a secret training facility surrounded by fences.
Twenty minutes before yesterday’s highly-anticipated press conference, there was a frenzy of activity as news broke of Billy Vunipola’s injury. A knee ligament strain ended the Saracens number eight’s involvement in the tournament with Nick Easter called up to the squad.
With a tough evening of questioning ahead, England sent out assistant coach Andy Farrell to bat first.
“I’m devastated for Billy,” said Farrell on their latest casualty.
“He’s gone home with our best wishes and hopefully we’ll see him again very soon.”
England were still counting the cost of the Battle Royale in London yesterday with Ben Morgan (knee) Courtney Lawes (knee), Jonathan Joseph (pectoral muscle) and Ben Youngs (ankle) taking no part in training.
“We need to leave selection a little bit later this week,” said Farrell on England’s walking wounded. “We usually like to do it as early as possible but it’s just not possible with people having to get through protocols in training.”
Chris Robshaw has come in for serious criticism since Saturday's defeat. Billy Stickland / INPHO
Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO
Saturday’s game against the Wallabies is win-or-bust for England. If they fail, the class of 2015 will be the first host nation to crash out at the pool stage in the tournament’s history. No pressure then, Andy?
“The players are in fight mode this week; they’re in fight mode straight away,” said Farrell on the challenge ahead.
Just to quote what they’ve just said out there the pitch themselves as they get ready for training tomorrow that they’re super excited. This should be the best week of their lives with what’s coming up, because we know what’s at stake.
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When asked about Carling’s comments earlier in the day, Farrell responded with a call to arms: “It is disappointing. We need everyone behind us this week – the press, the whole of the nation, the crowd. We need to batten down the hatches together. Let’s go for it.
“We are all English, aren’t we? We are English. That is what I’d like to see. Do we want to do well in this competition? Do we all realise what is at stake this weekend? Of course we do.
“Let’s get behind the team everyone and let’s help the players. Of course we will batten down the hatches internally and focus on the job because we have to.
We have to be calm and collected and execute under pressure properly, but let’s get a feelgood factor throughout the country and let’s go and do this at the weekend.
Four years into the Lancaster regime and this England team still lacks an identity. What’s their style? What’s their trademark? Certainly, all the chopping and changing hasn’t helped. In 44 matches, the England head coach has deployed 13 different wingers. The experimental and risky centre combination of Sam Burgess and Brad Barritt was Lancaster’s 14th different midfield partnership. There’s certainly a hint of Claudio Ranieri about the England coach.
Against arguably the most dangerous and creative backline in the competition, England will surely not field the same one-paced centre combination that started against the Welsh?
Farrell: Of course we will batten down the hatches internally. Billy Stickland / INPHO
Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO
One hugely respected member of the English press pack put that very question to Farrell: “Hand on heart, do you honestly believe, in an attacking sense, that kind of formation will give you what you need because, in terms of pace or distribution or ideas or doing something out of the box in the way that Wales were able to do in the back end of the game, do you feel that combination can give you that?
“What did Wales do at the end of the game?” Farrell replied with a hint of irritation.
“Well, look, they scored a try which featured two pretty damn good passes and a totally inspired kick inside and a hell of a pick-up at the end. It wasn’t a bad try.”
“No, I agree with you,” Farrell interjected. “What, you think we couldn’t do two passes like that?”
“Well, we don’t see it. That’s what I’m saying,” replied the journalist.
“Do you not?” said Farrell looking rather bemused. “Well, look, I’d go back to the 55th minute and at 22-12, you’d have been pretty happy wouldn’t you?”
“Oh absolutely,” replied the reporter before continuing: “I mean the question is, with that amount of possession, and that amount of territory, why aren’t you getting beyond a 10-point lead?”
“They kept giving us three points didn’t they, they kept giving us three,” said Farrell on the Welsh defence. “Just watch the game.”
Cue awkward silence…
Richard Wigglesworth, who replaced Youngs at scrum-half in the 48th minute, was next to face the music.
“It’s done now isn’t it?” said the Saracens half-back on the Welsh debacle.
“Unfortunately, it’s done. However frustrating it is, whatever you think what’s happened, you’re onto this week. We have to beat Australia. The only way to do that is to get onto the front foot, train well, rip in and see where it leaves us.”
Sounds pretty simple, Richard. Anyway, enough about the Wallabies, what about the criticism of Robshaw and the squad in recent days?
Certain people who have come out and said things should know better. It seems that no one’s ever made a mistake in life and no one’s ever made a decision that’s not worked out for them. They’re entitled to that, they’re progressing their own careers and I’ve absolutely no interest in anything they’ve got to say because they’re not here, they’re not living it, they’re not doing it. Until they are… I’m not bothered.
In 2011, France coach Marc Lievremont put scathing newspaper articles attacking his under-fire side on the wall of the team room. Have the England squad done something similar?
“No,” Wigglesworth retorted. “They [comments] annoy me. They piss me off. I’m not going to stand here and say they don’t, but I’m really not bothered by it. I’m just indifferent to how ridiculous some of their chat is.”
England winger Jonny May was the next cab off the rank at Pennyhill Park.
May is the epitome of this England squad in many ways. Outrageously talented with unlimited potential, but lacking the required composure when the pressure ramps up.
“It’s important to forget about Saturday,” said May. “We just need to look forward to Australia. Any thought that carries over from the last game into this one is only going to distract us and hold us back.”
“It’s a must-win game. It’s the biggest week of my life. It’s the biggest week of a lot of our lives I think, but we’ve got to embrace that and, if we can win, it’s going to be awesome. We can completely turn this around. It’s in our control. We’re trying our best. We just need everybody to get behind us and support us. I’m sure we can go out there and do everybody proud.”
After a tough day at England’s base filled with tension and bad news, Easter provided some much-needed comic relief to proceedings.
Easter’s call-up was the feel-good story of the day. The 37-year-old Harlequins veteran , who was pitchside for the Wales game as a pundit, was cut from Lancaster’s initial 31-man World Cup squad but was recalled to replace the stricken Vunipola yesterday.
Easter was part of the 2007 England World Cup squad that recovered from a 36-0 thumping by the Springboks during the pool stages to reach the final against the same opposition in Paris four weeks later. He was also part of the disastrous campaign in New Zealand four years ago when he was reported to have said “that’s £35,000 down the toilet” in reference to a win bonus following England’s quarter-final loss to France at Eden Park.
Nick Easter joined the England camp yesterday (file photo). PA Wire / PA Images
PA Wire / PA Images / PA Images
The England veteran was driving to Harlequins training at Surrey Sports Park, where Ireland are training this week coincidentally, when he received a call from his boss.
“Conor O’Shea called me and said ‘it sounds like you’re in the car, where are you?,’ I said ‘I’m on the way to training’, he said ‘which training’, I said ‘your training’, he said ‘you better to a U-turn. He said Stuart will be giving you a call in the next few hours just to finalise everything.”
The dog was in the back of the car and needed to do its business. So I gave the dog a walk, did a weights session at the club and got a meal there since it’s taken off my salary. Then, I went home, packed my boots and gum shield, and made it over here for 2.30.
Speaking to the assembled media, Easter issued a rallying cry to his squad ahead of the crunch clash with the Wallabies: “There is no backward step this weekend… there can’t afford to be.
“It’s a great fixture to have, given the history between the two countries in all sports and our histories at World Cups. We seem to meet each other quite a lot in humdingers. They are all pretty tight. They are an excellently organised team but we’ll have a few tricks up our sleeve as well.’
Tucked away in their base in Bagshot, you get the feeling this wounded England outfit will come out fighting for their lives on Saturday. Pocock, Hooper, Giteau and Folau will be waiting for them.
It was a fairly explosive day at England's press conference yesterday
Rory Keane reports from Pennyhill Park
ALMOST THREE DAYS have passed since England’s loss against Wales at Twickenham, but the tremors of that defeat are still reverberating across the country.
Press, pundits and ex-players alike have stuck the boot into Stuart Lancaster’s squad over the past 72 hours since their 28-25 defeat at the hands of the Welsh in south-west London. Captain Chris Robshaw has been pilloried for his decision to turn down a kickable penalty that would have drawn the game late on.
Graham Henry said England “melted” at Twickenham while he branded Robshaw’s late penalty call “perplexing” and “mind-numbing”. Clive Woodward said England looked like “amateurs playing against streetwise professionals” in the final quarter, but the most stinging jibe of the lot came from former England captain Will Carling.
Speaking to the BBC, Carling slammed Lancaster and his coaching staff for treating the squad like “schoolboys” and likening the set-up to a “classroom-orientated environment” bereft of leaders.
“We have a very prescriptive environment in the England team,” said Carling. “I’ve listened to Stuart Lancaster say for years that ‘I don’t have the leaders and therefore we’re having to make all the decisions as coaches’. It’s a very classroom-orientated environment. My view is that he has had leaders and that he needed to have trusted them and develop them.
It set the tone for an explosive day ahead of England’s first press conference of the week following their shambolic display against Warren Gatland’s side.
England have returned to the plush surroundings of Pennyhill Park in Bagshot. A luxurious five-star spa resort nestled away in remote Surrey complete with a secret training facility surrounded by fences.
Twenty minutes before yesterday’s highly-anticipated press conference, there was a frenzy of activity as news broke of Billy Vunipola’s injury. A knee ligament strain ended the Saracens number eight’s involvement in the tournament with Nick Easter called up to the squad.
With a tough evening of questioning ahead, England sent out assistant coach Andy Farrell to bat first.
“I’m devastated for Billy,” said Farrell on their latest casualty.
“He’s gone home with our best wishes and hopefully we’ll see him again very soon.”
England were still counting the cost of the Battle Royale in London yesterday with Ben Morgan (knee) Courtney Lawes (knee), Jonathan Joseph (pectoral muscle) and Ben Youngs (ankle) taking no part in training.
“We need to leave selection a little bit later this week,” said Farrell on England’s walking wounded. “We usually like to do it as early as possible but it’s just not possible with people having to get through protocols in training.”
Saturday’s game against the Wallabies is win-or-bust for England. If they fail, the class of 2015 will be the first host nation to crash out at the pool stage in the tournament’s history. No pressure then, Andy?
“The players are in fight mode this week; they’re in fight mode straight away,” said Farrell on the challenge ahead.
When asked about Carling’s comments earlier in the day, Farrell responded with a call to arms: “It is disappointing. We need everyone behind us this week – the press, the whole of the nation, the crowd. We need to batten down the hatches together. Let’s go for it.
“We are all English, aren’t we? We are English. That is what I’d like to see. Do we want to do well in this competition? Do we all realise what is at stake this weekend? Of course we do.
“Let’s get behind the team everyone and let’s help the players. Of course we will batten down the hatches internally and focus on the job because we have to.
Four years into the Lancaster regime and this England team still lacks an identity. What’s their style? What’s their trademark? Certainly, all the chopping and changing hasn’t helped. In 44 matches, the England head coach has deployed 13 different wingers. The experimental and risky centre combination of Sam Burgess and Brad Barritt was Lancaster’s 14th different midfield partnership. There’s certainly a hint of Claudio Ranieri about the England coach.
Against arguably the most dangerous and creative backline in the competition, England will surely not field the same one-paced centre combination that started against the Welsh?
One hugely respected member of the English press pack put that very question to Farrell: “Hand on heart, do you honestly believe, in an attacking sense, that kind of formation will give you what you need because, in terms of pace or distribution or ideas or doing something out of the box in the way that Wales were able to do in the back end of the game, do you feel that combination can give you that?
“What did Wales do at the end of the game?” Farrell replied with a hint of irritation.
“Well, look, they scored a try which featured two pretty damn good passes and a totally inspired kick inside and a hell of a pick-up at the end. It wasn’t a bad try.”
“No, I agree with you,” Farrell interjected. “What, you think we couldn’t do two passes like that?”
“Well, we don’t see it. That’s what I’m saying,” replied the journalist.
“Do you not?” said Farrell looking rather bemused. “Well, look, I’d go back to the 55th minute and at 22-12, you’d have been pretty happy wouldn’t you?”
“Oh absolutely,” replied the reporter before continuing: “I mean the question is, with that amount of possession, and that amount of territory, why aren’t you getting beyond a 10-point lead?”
“They kept giving us three points didn’t they, they kept giving us three,” said Farrell on the Welsh defence. “Just watch the game.”
Cue awkward silence…
Richard Wigglesworth, who replaced Youngs at scrum-half in the 48th minute, was next to face the music.
“It’s done now isn’t it?” said the Saracens half-back on the Welsh debacle.
“Unfortunately, it’s done. However frustrating it is, whatever you think what’s happened, you’re onto this week. We have to beat Australia. The only way to do that is to get onto the front foot, train well, rip in and see where it leaves us.”
Sounds pretty simple, Richard. Anyway, enough about the Wallabies, what about the criticism of Robshaw and the squad in recent days?
In 2011, France coach Marc Lievremont put scathing newspaper articles attacking his under-fire side on the wall of the team room. Have the England squad done something similar?
“No,” Wigglesworth retorted. “They [comments] annoy me. They piss me off. I’m not going to stand here and say they don’t, but I’m really not bothered by it. I’m just indifferent to how ridiculous some of their chat is.”
England winger Jonny May was the next cab off the rank at Pennyhill Park.
May is the epitome of this England squad in many ways. Outrageously talented with unlimited potential, but lacking the required composure when the pressure ramps up.
“It’s important to forget about Saturday,” said May. “We just need to look forward to Australia. Any thought that carries over from the last game into this one is only going to distract us and hold us back.”
“It’s a must-win game. It’s the biggest week of my life. It’s the biggest week of a lot of our lives I think, but we’ve got to embrace that and, if we can win, it’s going to be awesome. We can completely turn this around. It’s in our control. We’re trying our best. We just need everybody to get behind us and support us. I’m sure we can go out there and do everybody proud.”
After a tough day at England’s base filled with tension and bad news, Easter provided some much-needed comic relief to proceedings.
Easter’s call-up was the feel-good story of the day. The 37-year-old Harlequins veteran , who was pitchside for the Wales game as a pundit, was cut from Lancaster’s initial 31-man World Cup squad but was recalled to replace the stricken Vunipola yesterday.
Easter was part of the 2007 England World Cup squad that recovered from a 36-0 thumping by the Springboks during the pool stages to reach the final against the same opposition in Paris four weeks later. He was also part of the disastrous campaign in New Zealand four years ago when he was reported to have said “that’s £35,000 down the toilet” in reference to a win bonus following England’s quarter-final loss to France at Eden Park.
The England veteran was driving to Harlequins training at Surrey Sports Park, where Ireland are training this week coincidentally, when he received a call from his boss.
“Conor O’Shea called me and said ‘it sounds like you’re in the car, where are you?,’ I said ‘I’m on the way to training’, he said ‘which training’, I said ‘your training’, he said ‘you better to a U-turn. He said Stuart will be giving you a call in the next few hours just to finalise everything.”
Speaking to the assembled media, Easter issued a rallying cry to his squad ahead of the crunch clash with the Wallabies: “There is no backward step this weekend… there can’t afford to be.
“It’s a great fixture to have, given the history between the two countries in all sports and our histories at World Cups. We seem to meet each other quite a lot in humdingers. They are all pretty tight. They are an excellently organised team but we’ll have a few tricks up our sleeve as well.’
Tucked away in their base in Bagshot, you get the feeling this wounded England outfit will come out fighting for their lives on Saturday. Pocock, Hooper, Giteau and Folau will be waiting for them.
It’s shaping up to be one hell of a contest…
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