Assistant coach Andy Farrell says England are trying to use a high-pressure defensive system to rattle their opposition.
Much has been made of the number of missed tackles in England's Six Nations win over France at Twickenham but Farrell insists that reading too much into statistics blurs the bigger picture.
England missed a whopping 21 tackles against les Bleus, including one by Courtney Lawes in the build-up to Wesley Fofana's try. While Farrell conceded that was a mistake, he believes the intention to pressurise the opposition is as important as the execution.
"Everyone goes off the missed tackle statistics. I look at it differently," said Farrell.
"I wouldn't want us to be a passive defensive side that back off and doesn't put pressure on the opposition. If you do that, there will be misses here and there.
"There is a difference between a glaring one-on-one missed tackle when you are isolated (like Lawes' on Fofana) and the team going, 'Let's go and get them'.
"If somebody like Courtney gets off the line and puts the fear of whatever into somebody's mind, the next time that guy is taking the ball up he is not thinking pretty thoughts.
"He is thinking, 'S***, where is Courtney Lawes?'.
"We are a side that likes to force errors on the opposition and make sure they realise it will be a physical, hard game. It is definitely part of our mantra. That is why we are hard to play against.
"We want to have a reputation that we are a force to be reckoned with as far as defence is concerned."
Farrell believes that England are building a reputation for striking fear into their opponents.
"If you ask most teams we have played against so far, they would back that up," he added.
"Building a reputation is massively important.
"Teams can already see the difference in what we are trying to do.
"There will be other implications we need to be mindful of along the way. No defensive system is unbreakable.
"Teams will play against us in a variety of ways and we have to be good enough to deal with all types of scenarios."
Comments
missionary says...
@ 99 call regarding cheap AB shots. On Bradley Davis - I completely agree. Hore should have been given 8 months. On Parra - that is complete bollocks. That is rugby. Interesting that you say such play leaves a bad taste (and with Hore, I was ashamed), but your moniker suggests that maybe it is OK after all!!
Posted 00:32 18th March 2013
NHSaints says...
We can't just rely on defence, defence wins you titles, scoring wins you matches. I'm sorry but our back 3 could be so much more than they are at the minute, Get Goode on the bench and drop Ashton (or demote him to the bench) and bring back Foden and introduce May or Wade on the wings then move Brown to fullback (we've clearly seen he's not a consumate finisher and so it makes more sense to put him at fullback in a creative role).
Posted 17:30 08th March 2013
lawynd says...
@Dannyboy - nowhere in the piece is the name 'Twickenham'...no soup for you.
Posted 12:07 07th March 2013
APV1 says...
@ Philly - you're right, but I'm afraid you're just too late for the sloppy kiss.
(And don't listen to catfish001. With those whiskers, it's difficult to resist a big smackeroony!)
Posted 10:12 07th March 2013
Philly says...
APV.....Gunnery Sargent Hardiman in Full Metal Jacket
ARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH
Posted 02:56 07th March 2013
Jhamer25 says...
Haha jamesliveinhope i did read the article over and over. England missed 21 tackles, i found it hard to ignore or look past that bit.
Ashton = Over rated and can't tackle a tackle bag
Posted 21:11 06th March 2013
Dannyboy says...
@lawynd
I can answer that. Farrell said he believes England are building a reputation for striking fear into their opponents.
This simply isn't true. Irrespective of Englands half decent last 6 months, nobody fears going to Twickenam.
Posted 17:40 06th March 2013
jamesliveinhope says...
@rugbynut its a cliche but there is only one statistic that matters in a test match the rest of it is just management information (try telling an Italian or an Irishman that they were the better side in Edinburgh).
Read the rest of the article and you will see that Farrell is not dismissing the stat just quantifying it.
Posted 16:25 06th March 2013
lawynd says...
@Rugbynut - care to explain what's wrong with the comments, and thus England's defensive system?
Posted 15:10 06th March 2013
RugbyNut says...
Stupid comments by Farrell who should know better. Stick to coaching and work on improving those stats, because they do matter!
Posted 14:12 06th March 2013
Coshie78 says...
Unfortunately Chris Ashton appears to be watching the wrong film. He's more Stripes than Full Metal Jacket!!
Posted 14:09 06th March 2013
APV1 says...
@ catfish001 & lawynd - at least there are some educated men amongst the plebian masses on here.
Posted 12:39 06th March 2013
lawynd says...
"Bull. You didn't convince me. let me see your REAL war face!"
"AHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"You don't scare me! Work on it!"
I wonder what Gunnery Sergeant Hartman's reaction to the Haka would be...
Posted 12:09 06th March 2013
rugby_rockstar says...
Practise practise practise. You want a role model then look at the Springboks when they were winning Tri-nations titles and world cups in 2006 - 2007. They just smashed the hell out of anyone and everyone and did it from a meter behind the gainline so the trigger happy antipodian refs couldn't help out their basketball rugby buddies with off side calls. Thats something england have to be aware of there are refs out there who'll assume a good blitz comes from an off side position if its particularly fast and destructive.
On the other side of the pitch, attackers need to line up deeper and give the defensive line a chance to get ragged and then pick off the dogleg. Australia have scored some peaches and ireland, at their best, are the best in the NHem at doing it.
Posted 11:57 06th March 2013
cliffguy says...
sorry, 'it is', not 'it it'!
Posted 11:45 06th March 2013
cliffguy says...
APV1, sounds a bit like like Henry V, but I don't think it it!
Posted 11:44 06th March 2013
catfish001 says...
Don't really fancy the sloppy kiss there @apv1, but isn't it Full Metal Jacket?
But we all know England have never played a pretty game, not like the AB's or France on their day. With the influx of Sarries players and (former)coaching staff, the game is always going to be a pressure game.
Once the defense has had their day Catt needs to work his magic and get players hunting out the hole/weak point in attack, hopefully something they can learn from the Quins back line.
Posted 11:27 06th March 2013
APV1 says...
"... the next time that guy is taking the ball up he is not thinking pretty thoughts."
Unlike Digby Ioane, eh?
http://www.planetrugby.co.uk/story/0,25883,3551_8246971,00.html
If we accept that we're not that pretty after-all, perhaps we use our ugly mugs to scare them too...
"Show me your war face!"
"AAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!"
(A big sloppy kiss to the first person to correctly identify that quote - who and where from)
Posted 10:35 06th March 2013
99call says...
ABlack I must admit I love watching the ABs tur defend and to be honest I love watching all parts of their game but even you must admit that sometimes brutal defence becomes targeting players and the occasional cheapshot, we'll not go into the BOD incident but the treatment of Morgan Parra in the RWC final and the cheapshot on Bradley Davies by Andrew Whore kinda take away from the complete rugby your guys play and can leave a bad taste in the mouth
Posted 10:08 06th March 2013
jamesliveinhope says...
@jhamer25 I guess that your comments are a deliberate act of illustration to show how half-cocked you can look if you don't read the article properly - well done, objective achieved.
@ABlack agreed about the All blacks, its also been a feature of all of the Gatland/Edwards collaborations. The problem with it is that there needs to be a speed of thought and deed combined with it to capitalise on the errors that are created. Wasps were and ABs are masters of the art, Wales less so and England need to bring it consistently against SH opposition to feel that its working.
Agreed about the offside thing, there was a moment in France v Wales this term where the entire Welsh line (to the refs back) walked about 4 yards offside at a ruck.
Posted 08:47 06th March 2013