Time for Johnson to get back to basics
Monday November 23 2009
WHEN in doubt, do the simple things well.
It could have been Martin Johnson speaking. In fact, it was New Zealand clinching success at Twickenham on Saturday and it was the difference between two countries in search of sport's holy grail: the winning formula.
England in attacking territory -- the 'red zone' as coaches love to call it -- showed no obvious notion of where or how they wanted to drive home the advantage. The All Blacks, having noted that there was little wrong with England's defence out wide, punched up through the middle and made a try for Jimmy Cowan and a fourth penalty goal for Dan Carter. End of story.
Was this a failure of coaching, of captaincy, on England's part, the charge levelled at them throughout this Investec Challenge series?
Johnson will not have it and neither will his employers, of whom Martyn Thomas, the chairman of the RFU's management board, was unequivocal in his contention yesterday that Johnson will lead England into the 2011 World Cup.
support
If Johnson stays, so will his coaches, for whom he issued equally unequivocal support, although Mike Ford, the defence coach, has been linked with a move back to rugby league, where the England coaching job is vacant.
Coaches do not prepare players to turn ball over as frequently as England did, they cannot coach the instinctive decision-making ability of when to pass and when to drive and they cannot make silk purses out of the pig's ear that has constituted so much of this season's Guinness Premiership.
Why should anyone expect England suddenly to produce a coherent, exciting back division with so many second-choice players, behind a pack that struggles for momentum everywhere except the lineout, in the context of a pedestrian domestic tournament?
They are not alone. New Zealand, the world's best team, are not scoring tries by the hatful, nor are South Africa, the world champions, although there are hints that France might be finding a way through the morass and their meeting with the All Blacks in Marseilles this weekend will be a telling affair.
Under pressure, England's basic skills break down too easily. At various times this autumn, they have gone to close-range lineouts in the hope of mauling a way over the opposition line and have been driven back.
The finger of blame is pointed squarely at John Wells, the forwards coach, for not being able to sustain an area that used to be England's strength, based on the country's two outstanding club sides, Leicester and London Wasps, both of whom could drive a maul.
Neither of them do any more, so why should England? Saracens, the leading Premiership club, contribute only one player to England, the much-maligned captain Steve Borthwick, in part because most of their better players are not qualified for England.
Nor does the national side enjoy the rub of the green. Joe Worsley limped off in the second minute after damaging the medial ligaments in his right knee (a scan will determine the length of his absence).
Yet his replacement, Tom Croft, created England's best try-scoring chance, when he erupted from a maul in the final eight minutes and was brought down a few metres short by Dan Carter.
If Johnson has a problem, even allowing for the raft of injured players he has been unable to pick this month, it is marrying the talents of those he does have; the trade-off between a Croft and a Worsley, for example, of Ayoola Erinle and Shane Geraghty.
You wonder whether Johnson, faced with the situation of two seasons ago when Brian Ashton (then head coach) preferred another fly-half to Jonny Wilkinson and was rewarded with a brilliant display from Danny Cipriani against Ireland, would do the same now, were such a choice available.
Wilkinson has been his go-to man, but even he has not been able to steer England's ship in the right direction. New Zealand were able to place far more pressure on him than Carter operated under, by their whole defensive alignment rather than the brilliance of Richie McCaw.
There was a telling opinion from Johnson. "I think we're in pretty good shape." (© The Times, London)
- david hands
Irish Independent
