Kicking Practice

Well what a disaster for England, how on earth they managed to lose to France yesterday is anyone’s guess. For the second week in a row, both France and England barely even showed up to play, and for the second week in a row, Les Bleus snatched victory in the last 10 minutes of the game, and Les world champions threw it away.

The fact that England missed 21 points worth of kicks (if you include Hodgson’s drop goal attempt) shouldn’t really be the issue. England should have buried France after taking a 17-6 half time lead, but their second half performance was abject. Even if Hodgson or Barkley had slotted one of their missed attempts, it would merely have masked what was once again, an amateur performance from a team without cohesion, confidence and leadership.

How Martin Johnson must have been squirming in his BBC chair on Sunday afternoon. An England side with him at the helm would surely not have fallen to pieces so spectacularly. Jason Robinson is a fine player and has many admirable leadership qualities, but it is extremely difficult to captain a side from fullback. England needed a Johnson or a Dallaglio to lead from the front, from the ruck and the maul, but none of the forwards put their hand up, and the rest of the team looked in disarray.

Aside from Johnson, England’s player skill level has not been considerably diminished since November 2003, it is clear however, that Martin Johnson’s leadership is sorely missed.

The issue for England now is confidence. England do not have the look of a confident side. After Olly Barkley’s try, we were shown footage of Andy Robinson cheering from the coach’s seat, although for only a couple of seconds. It then seemed as though he quickly realised what he was doing, as though it was something wrong, and then sat back down, straight faced and almost embarrassed of his actions. He was obviously feeling that he mustn’t cheer too loud too soon and that complacency in taking the lead was unwise in the extreme. He was correct, however this is not the behaviour we can expect to see from a coach who has confidence in his side’s ability to go on and score more tries. This lack of confidence filters down through the squad and it shows in the players on the pitch.

This past week it was revealed that the Rugby Football Union has a secret master plan; it aims to win the next two World Cups and six of the next eight Six Nations Championships. It seems they are getting a little ahead of themselves. In any of the Monday paper’s post match reviews, you will still find half a dozen references to the 2003 World Cup! Yesterday’s match had nothing at all to do with the World Cup, and nor will any of the matches that England play between now and 2007. This is now the 8th defeat in 13 matches since November 22 2003; England are not the same team that won that tournament. Perhaps the players have forgotten all about this and it is only the media who are so concerned with it; perhaps not. Whatever the case, it must be forgotten all about if England are to become a decent team again, let alone think about winning another one.

It seems as though the World Cup champagne has gone well and truly to England’s heads, and this is turning out to be a very long hangover indeed.