Frustrated: Toby Flood
England fly-half Toby Flood has made no bones about his frustration following Saturday's 20-14 loss to Australia at Twickenham.
The Wallabies reclaimed the Cook Cup with a workman like perfromance as they bounced back from a drubbing at the hands of France a week earlier.
England will harbour a number of regrets after twice turning down kickable penalties as the sought a try to overturn the six-point deficit.
"I can 't remember the last time I felt this frustrated after a Test match," Flood wrote in his column for the Mail on Sunday.
"A win was there for the taking. Instead we lost, and we deserved to lose, because they were better than us in many areas: from a skills point of view; from decision-making and, most of all, with how they managed the game.
"You can talk about positives but you have to be honest in rugby and the truth is this is a big blow. We came into this game full of confidence after drawing with South Africa last June, and then putting 50 points on Fiji last week. It hadn't been the perfect performance but it laid a good foundation. Instead we came second because we just weren't good enough on the day.
"We had issues at the breakdown and we had issues holding on to the ball and we had issues with some of our skills but that's because we were always trying to force the issue, rather than be patient, and that led to mistakes.
"I guess people will highlight some of the penalties spurned. Our scrum-halves are both instinctive players like all good scrum-halves should be, and although I would have backed myself to have kicked those three points at the end of the first half, Danny Care's decision to take a quick tap led to Manu Tuilagi's try. It didn't quite work out the same though when Ben Youngs also tapped quickly and went with 11 minutes remaining.
"Perhaps that was a time when the context of the game has to be taken into account and, although you never want to curb the instincts of an attacking number nine, we need to work on our collective composure.
"We should know how to deal with a situation like this but we are still making far too many mistakes under pressure and being caught out by sides who are taking their chances much better than us."
England Head Coach Stuart Lancaster said he didn't have a problem with the decision made in the heat of the moment,
"I was happy with the decision making on the field; some people may criticise a kick to the corner when three points were on offer but we had momentum and an edge in the line-out, so I was happy with the call," said Lancaster.
Mike Catt, England's attacking and skills coach, also praised the Australian 10 and 15 combination.
"Kurtley Beale and Berrick Barnes certainly made a big difference in the way they interchanged and ran the game at 10 and 15," he said.
"They moved us around well and in particular the little chip behind our defence caused us a lot of issues. It's exactly what we're trying to achieve with Flood and Goode, and in general, I was happy with the tempo and ambition we displayed."
Comments
ArmchairGeneral says...
Perhaps equalling consecutive no of wins at that time was a speed bump to you but it was a glorious 4 years for us arrogant pommie fans. 1999 - 2003 got better and better. It might well have started sooner were it not for Mr Lomu.
Posted 14:03 20th November 2012
ArmchairGeneral says...
@stun the Mullet: same goes for 11 yrs ago as 10. No WC yet but England were número uno.
Posted 13:58 20th November 2012
chancer says...
I watched the 2003 WC final again last night and a thought struck me, How many of the current team would you put into that team? My answer sadly would be none!
Posted 08:40 20th November 2012
damo says...
Alexander and timani back. Both played in draw vs Nz and defeat of Argies made big diff in scrum and general play Aussies missed these vs France and the diff is massive fact. I reckon england will beat Sa this week end
Posted 08:36 20th November 2012
chancer says...
Same old problems identified from last tour of SA, please Mr Lancaster show some originality, pick players that are in form, try out new players, you can select players currently in France. This lot are never going to win a World Cup. RFU, please forget making money, ditch the aweful purple kit and get a military band to play some stiring music not some second rate singers interpretation of the NA.
Posted 07:58 20th November 2012
rugby_rockstar says...
Sounds like they were a bit over confident. God knows why. England need to be realistic about their current place in the scheme of things work really hard to improve it. Oz were always going to e fired up for this one. Same way as england get fired up after they lose to Scotland. Problem is they don't stay at that level of commitment and it drives me nuts.
One thing that england can work with in the run up to the SA match is that they've played at a pace that's been about two gears up from anything SA have shown on this tour. That said SA will want this win so we must NOT take SA's lethergy for granted.
Posted 15:36 19th November 2012
APV1 says...
I've siad most of what i want to say on the main thread, but I'd like to pick up on a couple of things:
"Perhaps that was a time when the context of the game has to be taken into account..." Exactly! There's a time and a place for the cheeky scrum-half run. And knowing the difference is what makes a 9 world-class.
"...we are still making far too many mistakes under pressure and being caught out by sides who are taking their chances much better than us." Exactly right again.
And, NHsaints, let's give Marler time to get his scrummaging better. He might make it. I agree he needs to go back to his club for a while, but let's not write him off just yet. And I belive it was nearer 350 caps for England vs. 700-odd for Aus. I may have just made that up though...
Posted 11:10 19th November 2012
lawynd says...
@DampAardvark - the 'problem' is that of two centres that are crash-ball exponents. One of whom, Barritt, doesn't have any real pace nor offloading ability, or a fend or a step. Manu might be relatively one-dimensional but it's bloody effective at least! We need a far more creative player at 12 to take the pressure off Flood, and let the fullback do his actual job. I sincerely hope that Billy Twelvetrees continues his progress at Gloucester because he's tailor-made for the role.
Posted 09:31 19th November 2012
fraserpark says...
toby was cumbersome in attack he had a gap in the !st half that any player thad aounce of speed would of been under the posts there lies the problem you cant organise or manage agame of rugby its about speed+ reaction instict when will england learn
Posted 01:49 19th November 2012
dropkick says...
Surprise? You must be joking. England not half as good as they think they are and OZ not half as bad as they think they are. Twas ever thus.
Flodd is right of course... but then England always deserve to lose given the gruel they always dish out. Please sir I want no more.
Posted 01:30 19th November 2012
Jediboy says...
Redrosemark - well said. Just proves the point that some people just love to stick the knife in to England, often on the back of spurious claims, just like this one.
Posted 22:56 18th November 2012
DampAardvark says...
Agree that Waldrom should be replaced by perhaps Morgan. Also the Goode experiment hasn't worked, it just leads to the opposition kicking behind the English defence. Not sure what the experiment with Goode is for. Brown won the Gatorade player of the month award a couple of months back, is a prolific try scorer, is great at Harlequins and has been developing quite well. What's the problem Lancaster is fixing here?
Posted 20:29 18th November 2012
boksmashoffice says...
Fair point REdRoseMark. English rugby went downhill once Woodward was forced out. Is that fair?
Posted 20:11 18th November 2012
StunTheMullet says...
@ RedRoseMark - To work around that speed bump in history - how does 11 or 9 years ago sound?
Posted 19:44 18th November 2012
RedRoseMark says...
Boksmashoffice:
10 years ago...2002/2003...England lose 1 test in a year (v France) complete a string of 13 wins against the SH, home and away... and wind up World Champs. Are you sure you want to use that timescale as your comparison?!
Posted 17:42 18th November 2012
boksmashoffice says...
The limitations of English Rugby are there for all too see. Forwards running from a standing start. Same problem as 10 years ago. No dynamism. Next week v The Boks will be your kind of game, all that is going to happen is kick and chase and bash it up. can't wait.
Posted 17:07 18th November 2012
NHsaints says...
Marler and Waldrom should never see an England shirt again. Both were huge letdowns, Ben Youngs doesn't have the excuse of inexperience after the number of tests he's played and Barritt was silent again! We really need to clean out the players who clearly can't cut international rugby. To be fair to england though australia had something like 450 test caps, england had more like 150 caps and although we should really be starting to get results a 6 point loss isn't that bad in context when we could have won just as easily with more experience/less injuries.
Posted 13:08 18th November 2012
rollingdoughnut says...
Mistakes, yeah, but at last the attitude's right. Young teams learn nothing standing around watching a kicker. Games like this can be won by a mediocre approach, but that would serve no purpose for a side that needs to learn all aspects of the game. If England want to be up there with the best, they need to practice the running game. That's what they're doing, and I'm all for it. Rather have this than a dull win.
Posted 12:37 18th November 2012
Jediboy says...
I like Floods honesty. He's spot on.
Posted 11:44 18th November 2012
melkdave says...
I have no issues with Care or Youngs quick taps ,i also have no issue with us goping for a try from the lineout ,But i do thik it was a mistake to continually go for the lineout,once maybe twice is fine ,as long as we keep the ball,but going for it a third time ,is when we really should have gone for the three points imoThen we wouldnt have been under pressure to score a try late in the game,and most probily would have tried forcing it ,and making mistakes.But hey its still a Young green England team,that hasnt been together under SL and co a year yet,and its unrealistic to expect improvements game on game so hopefully lesson learned,and an improvement against the bokke ,next weekendPosatives we could have won with a bit to spare ,if we where more precise in exacution,and patient.Negatives more work on skills needed bal lretention and handling/passing at pace,and on the scrumGR will not be happy with that performance at all,also at the breakdown,in how to protect the ball.,and clearout better.
Posted 11:03 18th November 2012