England Match Analysis/Rant

First of all, hats off to South Africa who dominated the second half and fully deserved the win. Played to their strengths and, considering they had little time to prepare, looked organised and went about their business efficiently.

Now, England...

I said before the match that how England performed would be decided by the 2nd row and the 10 and 12, and for the most part it was.

The second row were anonymous to say the least. Parling went well at the lineout but if we just want an efficient lineout then why not recall Borthwick. Their tackling was at times pedestrian and at others non-existant. I'd be interested to see the stats on missed tackles because Botha, the "enforcer" of the two, missed at least 4 in the second half alone, 2 in the build up to Steyns try. At scrum time the lack of a real ballast behind the tighthead showed and despite us outweighing their front row (and I would say having the more technical scrummagers) we were pushed back as the game went on because of the power coming from their engine room. Its a shame because the rest of the starting pack went well, thought the front row were good both in the set piece and around the park, with Marler not shying away in his first start. I thought the back row were immense in the first half really dominateing the breakdown, what a difference a PROPER 6 makes, but tired in the second because of the extra work they were having to do defending and carrying the second rows. Thought Robshaw was outstanding, it was always going to be a real test to see if he could carry his form into South Africa against their back row and he did, even gaining praise for his groundwork from the ref!

Farrell, what to say..... he's not a 10 and never will be as he lacks the most important thing required for a 10, vision. When there were gaps out wide he went inside or played the short pop into the brickwall defence, or more often than not kicked aimlessly down the fullbacks throat. When it was on round the fringes again he didn't exploit it. His lack of passing game is worrying because when he does pass it goes behind the runner forcing them to check and turn, thus losing all momentum. And to cover for it he continually opts for the deft little chip over the top. The players know this too, which is why toward the end of the first half when Youngs got turnover ball he missed Farrell out because he knew he would put boot to ball and waste the opportunity. In the second half, they again missed him out at times with senior backs coming in, frustrated, looking for work. What summed it up for me was when Flood effectively pushed him out of the way for first receiver in the last 2 minutes of the game, despite Farrell standing in there. In those 2 minutes England showed more threat than Farrell produce the entire game.

At 12 Barritt was fantastic in defence hitting everything that moved, can't fault him for that, but what did he offer going forward other than an easy crash option for Farrell? If we want that why not recall Tindall or Noon or Erinle now that he's injured. A 12 isn't just a crash ball merchant who can tackle, he's meant to be able to create, distribute, control and feed his outside backs, and when needed step in to releave when the 10 gets isolated. Barritt offers non of this.

The rest of the backs went really well, thought Youngs was busy and creative, adding much needed spark to attack. Tuilagi was powerful both in attack and defence, but is he being used correctly? I don't think he is, (blame lies inside him). And I thought the back three worked really well, good under the high ball and good going forward. Would say Brown's defence was poor for De Villiers try, but that was about the only slight I had for him.

Next week England need to keep the ball in hand more and really stretch the South African defence, because when they did today (rare I know) they caused problems. Youngs needs to increase the tempo right from the off with quick tap and goes from infringments, England came out the blocks today firing but lost momentum when they slowed it down at penalty time, got to keep the Boks on the back foot and give them no time to re group. The attack needs to be wider, at times today England used the slice (with a runner coming from 13 to 12 as a decoy) to hold the drift and it worked, the only problem was Farrell passed to the decoy runner instead of hitting his deep wide receiver, the point is there was space outside the 13 channel for England to exploit, and then didn't today (this could be because De Villiers is a 12 by trade and was defending narrow off first phase. And also, where were the stirke moves today? These plays come from the 10 and they need to vary it up next week, hitting the 12/13 continually on a crash into 10 off good set piece ball achieves nothing other than allowing the South Africans to organise their defence as they know whats coming. Should try to attack the 13/15 channel more next week and try to exploit De Villiers un familiarity with playing 13.

Finally the bench, the impact from the bench was pretty poor today, Flood at 12 doesn't work he plays 10! Joseph made a nice break when he came on but he came on too late. Why bring on a tighthead at loosehead when the scrums going backwards is beyond me, and Mears? Dowson? Impact? Not on your life!

Lancaster needs to make changes for next week. The hope is Haskell and Care go well enough in the midweek game to warrant elevation to the bench for the 2nd test, not start because I thought Johnson and Youngs went well, but they could bring a lot of tempo and umpf next week. Flood HAS to start at 10 next week, I personally would drop Farrel but he won't, but for God's sake he's got to start Flood. 12 is tricky. Who Lancaster picks to start the midweek game is crucial. At the moment JTH is the next in line but, while I do rate him more the Barritt, I would be inclined to go with Allen and put in the Leicester midfield. Allen's good going forward, can distribute and defends well, the most complete 12 we have, and most importantly Flood and Tuilagi know his game and trust him. The biggest problem though that Lancaster has is what to do in the second row. Parling will start, because the lineout went well, but if not Botha who? Palmer? Quiet when he came on today. Bet he's regretting not calling up either Attwood or Garvey, because thats the only option hes got for that type of lock.

For me next week should be:

1. Marler
2. Hartley
3. Cole
4. Palmer (what other option is there?)
5. Parling
6. Johnson
7. Robshaw
8. Morgan
9. Youngs
10. Flood
11. Foden
12. Allen
13. Tuilagi
14. Ashton
15. Brown

16. Gray
17. PDJ/Mullen (take your pick, because if they come on the wrong side of the scrum then they're not going to perform - roll on 23 man squads)
18. Robson (went well for Quins this year and doesn't shy away from tackles, if Parling does then get him on to run the lineout)
19. Haskell
20. Care
21. Goode (Don't rate Farrell, Hodgson is counter productive as he won't be there come 2015, no other 10 options so gone for Goode as he has a bit of class)
22. Joseph

Good side.