David Campese slams England’s ‘snore-fest approach’ as Six Nations ‘pasting’ to Ireland could spark a welcome ‘reset’
David Campese is our Expert Witness ahead of England v Ireland in the Six Nations.
With England’s campaign coming under fire from all quarters despite winning two from three, they face table toppers Ireland this weekend at Twickenham.
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All-time great David Campese joined Planet Rugby’s James While to discuss the big talking points heading into the game, with a particular focus on England’s stuttering attack and what needs to be done to fix it.
The top line
“For me, the top line and biggest issue that England face is that they’re not improving in any facet of their play, especially in terms of their attacking skill,” Campese said ahead of the Six Nations showdown.
“There’s no real flair or ambition coming from the coaching setup coming in in terms of that attack but the crucial thing to me is that I cannot see what they’re trying to do other than hoof the leather off the ball and chase.
“Now kicking is an important part of footie – it was something we worked on so hard during my time with the Wallabies, and I personally looked to develop my kicking skills as much as possible, but what we did was fit our kicking in as a counterpoint to the wider attacking plan, and that’s the bit I believe is missing right now.
“It’s bizarre as within the Premiership, there’s a lot of high quality attacking football being played; Saints, Quins and Bath are all exciting teams to watch, yet England seem not to be trying to develop the same style in their national game that we see in their domestic game.
“The talent is there but they’re not selecting the people or the plan and if England continue with this snore-fest approach they’re in danger of boring a glass eye to sleep, it really is that bad!”
Muddled thinking
“I’ll give you a direct example of this. For the Tests against Italy and Wales we saw Alex Mitchell and Fraser Dingwall at nine and 12, with Tommy Freeman at 14, all integral parts of that Saints plan. But then, shoehorned in between, is George Ford at 10, a fine player but a man who plays a conservative game at Sale Sharks,” the Wallabies great continued.
“I simply don’t get that. All of those Saints boys play around Fin Smith, a remarkable talent at fly-half and someone I believe can be a Test superstar. He’s the enabler they have and to pick part of the Saints’ backline but then to leave out the guy that controls it and makes things happen is absolutely nuts.
“It smacks of paying lip service to the selection of the others around Ford without ever trusting them fully. Even going back to my time with the Wallabies one of our greatest strengths was we consistently picked team units that played together. I’ll go back to the 1991 Rugby World Cup. We had five players from the same club, Randwick, alone. The whole front-row was a New South Wales combination and the midfield was all Queensland in Noddy Lynagh, Timmy Horan and Jason Little, three world class players who grew up playing together.
“That midfield is as good as any the game has seen but as a combination it punched even harder than the players did as the world class individuals they are because in simple terms they knew each other’s game inside out and back to front.
“England have the resources to do the same, and at the moment, they’re refusing to use the players they have at their disposal in the units that would make a difference, and that’s why they’re struggling to function.”
Time together
Campese added: “This is compounded by the time the players spend together. The old long-form tours were a huge advantage to the sides in terms of building relationships. With England, a nation that draws from 10 clubs and beyond, building those connections is key, and they don’t have the luxury of the time together that Ireland have, selecting from only four provinces with Leinster providing the lion’s share.
“Ireland are still a very structured and ‘rugby league’ style of team. Now, don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty we can learn from rugby league, as Martin Offiah was suggesting on Planet Rugby yesterday. But the preponderance of rugby league coaches means that sides are playing a game plan where seeking contact is more important that seeking space. Ireland are far better at doing this than any other side, but the rugby league influence is still there and that hampers even their attacking ambition and ability to think on their feet.
“For Farrell’s team, it’s that latter quality they have to work on. We’ve seen both Ireland and Leinster fail at the bigger hurdles such as European Finals and World Cups, simply because when they’re presented with teams who play heads-up thinking rugby and change the point of challenge, then they struggle to adapt as they’re still thinking far too structurally, which is that rugby league coaching influence I refer to.”
Progress
“However, this season they have progressed and I’m not blind to that. They have a lot of running options working in pods off the nine and 10 that keeps sides guessing. With England using that rush defence from Felix Jones then holding the defender and passing out to one of their three options is likely to cause havoc for the home team.
“Put simply, England’s ability to defend north to south and to push sides back is obvious – and they’re very good at it. But when you’re blitzing at that speed, your ability to defend east to west is lessened; firstly because the speed of the rush prevents adjustment – you have so much momentum it’s hard to change direction. Secondly, the narrow but fast defence they use means that the boot man or one of the back players in the pendulum has to get around to the openside wing to make the extra man, and unless everyone is on the script and has a huge work rate, holes can appear.”
One-way traffic
“But the truth is that if you look at the key units of each team this Saturday, there’s not one where England have superiority. I can’t see any England player getting into that current Irish side either, that’s how hard this task is and that’s how far apart these two sides are,” he continued.
“I fail to see a situation where England can beat Ireland this weekend. And this is the nub of the issue for me – why is Borthwick persisting with the direction he’s going when it’s clear some major changes need to be made? Can you tell me what England’s or Borthwick’s style is? What their plan is? I’ve got 100 caps, and I’m buggered if I know!
“You’re not going to win World Cups playing the way they are now. The weight of public expectation in English rugby drives this – they expect Borthwick’s team to win every game and this prevents experimentation or a reset.
“In some respects, a pasting in this match might be the best thing that can happen to England as then there’s an argument for change. However, we should already have seen that from the way they’ve played in previous rounds.
“There’s a need to change those expectations – take some short term pain of losses for long term gain of a better and more expansive game plan by being brave and capping some of the amazing young players as starters.
“And if England can hope for one thing out of this match, it might just be getting the marker down that they need to get into that reset and reselect mode so they can maximise the potential of the resources they have at their disposal.”
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