Five takeaways from England v Georgia
Following a 40-0 victory for England over Georgia in their Autumn Nations Cup game, here’s our five takeaways from the fixture at Twickenham.
Math rugby
For those of a left brained disposition, England’s first half was a masterpiece of mathematic efficiency. Their entire focus was one of pragmatic numerical mismatching, notional yardage through kick accuracy and some 76 minutes played away from their own red zone.
Their commitment to playing what they’d decided in the dressing room rather than what was in front of them on the pitch was obvious and it says everything about the match that only one try, Elliot Daly’s, included more than one piece of handling.
But rugby is more than maths; played well it’s right brained art form, where handling, power and pace interchange with intuitive precision and a sprinkling of visceral ambition. England were creatively predictable relying entirely upon heavy traffic collision, cardiovascular superiority, with organisational preplanning at the centre of everything they did.
For a side that wants to put smiles on people’s faces, a more whole brained approach is needed and for that, they need to tear up the spreadsheet.
Georgian grit
Georgia carried on where they left off at the infamous scrummage practice session against England last season. They were doughty at scrum time, rarely ceding many inches backwards and displaying a lot of physicality. They can be enormously proud of their defence and the way their fitness stayed on point for the whole of the 80 minutes.
In scrum-half Gela Aprasize and number eight Beka Gorgadze, they’ve great connectivity between their serviceable scrummage and the emerging talent of Tedo Abzhandadze at fly-half, but they need to look to go around the best defences than try to run through them.
Georgia will emerge happy from this game. They were tested down the middle, they were bettered in the tight, but on the edges of the pitch, their game and defence held up well, as evidenced by England getting outside them on one solitary occasion. For their first trip to Twickenham, they can be proud of their showing.
Lessons learned
It’s hard to work out what England learned about themselves in this match that they didn’t know already. The scrum was superb and both legally and technically proficient. Both sets of front-row forwards acquitted themselves well, although Mako Vunipola’s introduction showed just what a gem of a handling prop the big Saracen is.
Elsewhere, Charlie Ewels put a big shift in around the fringes, challenging close clearing kicks and getting through a vast amount of work, and Jonathan Joseph’s appetite for work and general distribution vindicated his selection until a hamstring spasm saw him limp off after a marvellous run to set up Daly’s try.
🏴 Jamie George became the first England hooker to score a hat-trick.
✍️ Read the #AutumnNationsCup match report, here. 👇 #ENGvGEO https://t.co/ruCfGSVLPN
— Planet Rugby (@PlanetRugby) November 14, 2020
However, that lack of ambition in England’s eight, nine and ten, the spine of the team, must be of huge concern. Billy Vunipola’s glacial runs into contact are something of rugby from that ice age itself and England must now look to move on and look for a player than can both run into contact but importantly, also find space. There’s no doubt that Owen Farrell operates at Test level best at 12 and the simple fact that only one England try featured anything more than a solitary pass says everything that you need to know about England’s midfield ambition and execution.
At sixes and sevens
Whilst the portly figure of Jamie George was rightly named as Player of the Match, Jack Willis took precisely 15 minutes and five seconds to remind all why he’s regarded as the best back-row in the Premiership. He was busy and leggy, all elbows and aggro at the breakdown, a nuisance of the highest order.
Ben Earl too started putting in some lusty blows towards the end of the innings looking sharp and spikey, winning a couple of turnovers and doping what he does better than any other England back-row option – carry at pace. The Maro Itoje experiment put a lot of pressure on the lineout and his suffocating presence at the breakdown was business as usual, whatever number he wears on the back of his shirt.
The bottom line is, England are stacked with options and today, both Willis and Earl vindicated their selection.
Edge and pace
For all the efficiency, the lack of willingness England show to play on the edge of the pitch is holding them back. Top sides will field their kicking game with ease, quality runners will return even the most accurate of those kicks with interest. What is missing from the English game is an ability or a willingness to up tempo, play with width and play with emotion.
Eddie Jones often talks about playing rugby the English way. Judging on today’s performance, he’s referring to the manner of sides in the mid 2000s rather than anything like the precision running and unstructured creativity we see from sides like Wasps and Bristol in the Premiership.
Players are picked on the way they play rugby for their clubs and it’s an old adage that you should play the same way at international level. However, the pre-planned manner that England approach each game is preventing that transition. By all means, play the English way, but play it the way it is now, not like it was 15 years ago.