Expert Witness: Nick Easter previews Cape Town Test

Editor

As England’s June tour comes close to derailment, this week’s Expert Witness sees the return of former England international Nick Easter to preview the third and final Test.

The big question

As England once again started powerfully snaring two scores early on, but then endured 65 scoreless minutes, it’s hard to work out quite what is going on within the team. Easter, a veteran of three World Cups, wonders if Eddie Jones is really looking at the wider picture:

“When I look at the side now compared to say the Australian tour two years ago, I have to ask myself what has changed? What is different now that means we’re losing games, whereas before we were finding a way to win?

“A head coach has many responsibilities but his two main ones are selection and clarity. Clarity in the roles the players have.”

“You have to get both of these things absolutely right in order to succeed and it seems a bit muddled as opposed to two years ago,” he concluded.

“Let’s just take the gainline battle as an example; rugby is in the main about winning the collisions. In England’s case, using our big forwards to dominate that area has always been a key component of our game, especially when we’re fielding a back division that lacks a bit of tonnage, but not lacking ball players.

“When I watch now, we’re getting hammered in that area, the defence are conceding metres and the attack are losing ball in contact. We’re powder-puff in comparison to a short time ago and there appears to be no real answers as to why and unless we fix this fast we’re going to struggle at the highest level.

“One thing I do notice; England’s game plan to win the gainline has, as noted in this column before, become over-reliant on Billy Vunipola. His ability to drive slow ball into contact and commit two or three defenders is unique. Nobody else can do it, but when this doesn’t work what next?

“England have developed a game using their forward runners mainly off the scrum-half, but at the moment defences are coping very easily with it.

“Contrast this with the way that other countries use their running forwards – Kieran Read running off the 10 or 12 for New Zealand; the outstanding Duane Vermeulen popping up in the wide channels and Kevin Gourdon doing similar for France; of course, these players need to do the hard yards at the times it’s needed, but why not use them to create mismatches against backs wider out and use their offloading abilities to match. Nathan Hughes is devastating in these areas for Wasps drawing in two defenders and freeing up the ball to the pace around him.

“Clarity of role is all well and good but if it isn’t using players’ own strengths then it is wasteful,” says the once mighty Quin.

Initial excitement

“Looking at the backline, I have to say I was quite excited by the combination picked, notwithstanding the fact Mike Brown should be at full-back!” Easter quipped.

“Slade and Farrell in the centre offer great distribution and provided they were on the front foot, I felt we really had an edge in that area, but dominance was lacking.

“Without that front foot ball, the point I made earlier about a lack of tonnage holds true. We have the skills to unlock any defence but not the power to dominate it.

“The other issue I noted was in both Tests (and notably in the Six Nations, taking Wales as a key example) we started like a high-speed train. We came out of the blocks like rockets then faded and fell off like spent boosters as we ran out of fuel.

“Much has been made about Eddie’s training methods. Short, sharp and highly intense; I’ve been down to Pennyhill Park (England’s training ground) and seen this for myself. This makes me wonder if the players are so used to peaking at the start of games, that they’re running out of juice after other sides pick up their intensity.

“The evidence of the Welsh match and both South African Tests supports my view, and frankly, the players look absolutely knackered after 25 minutes in both games, and I take on board altitude may also a contributory factor here.

“The South African players are also mid-season and regular play high tempo rugby at altitude in Super Rugby and know how to cope.

“The result is absolute fatigue after the burst, both physical and mental, and I am also convinced that’s one of the reasons so many schoolboy level penalties are being conceded when the players thinking is so clouded by fatigue.

“Another concern is our inability to exert dominance during games is at the set-piece. This area has been the biggest regression on this tour, I am not sure what has happened to England’s maul and the scrum has been under pressure in the second half of both Tests and credit must go to Rassie Erasmus’ early substitutions capitalising on the tiring England front-row at altitude.”

The Bokke are back

Enough of England.

In all the woes of a wilting Rose, it’s easy to forget the progress of the growing Boks under Erasmus. Easter, a self-proclaimed new member of the coaching brethren, is delighted to see one of his old foes blooming under the new regime:

“I have to say the outstanding player of the series so far is my old opponent Duane Vermeulen, who has been absolutely outstanding.

“Vermeulen is one of the best I’ve ever played against, possibly second only to the great Juan Smith in terms of South African back-rowers I’ve gone toe-to-toe with. I have huge admiration for his talent and believe he’s slightly under-rated in the pantheon of modern number eights.

“Kieran Read is brilliant and I love watching him play, but for me it is Duane; clamp-like over the ball, huge carrier, pacey, skillful and a real leader. He’s playing the game at eight that I wish we could have managed to learn from; hard yards when required but also popping up in the 13 channel to support attacks and to add another wave of physicality against fractured defences. England could take a lot from the way he’s playing and the places where he pops up to carry.

“Combine that with the lightening service of Faf de Klerk and the absolute dominance in every aspect of the set-piece and collision and you can see why SA are 2-0 up with one to play.

“In fact, the Bokke are winning without a particularly strong or accurate three-quarter line and it’s testimony to the dominance they are getting up front that they can win without strength in midfield. RG Snyman and the outstanding leader Siya Kolisi have also contributed hugely and the future looks bright for Rassie and his back-room staff,” noted Easter.

Salvaging pride

“Looking ahead to the weekend, England HAVE to salvage something from this series. The repercussions of six Test defeats on the trot are significant and perhaps we need to change a few things in order to adopt a slightly different mindset.

“South Africa have flooded the 10 channel and steam rollered George Ford. Perhaps it’s time to put Farrell at 10, bring Slade to distribute at 12 and let Elliot Daly at last have his chance at 13, bringing Denny Solomona into the back three.

“Up front, a few changes will be enforced through injury and I will be interested to see if Brad Shields moves to eight to allow the pacey Mark Wilson a chance on the blindside, or to recall Chris Robshaw. Either way, I’ve been hugely impressed by Tom Curry and whatever happens, they need to allow him to develop.

“Above all, we need to find leadership, more pace off the carrier, urgency and accuracy at the breakdown.

“My concern is that there’s too many issues to be fixed for one Test; knowing the problem is one thing, mending it so quickly is quite another and I fear for the way we’re heading unless these concerns are addressed and addressed right now.”

We thank Nick for his time once again and Expert Witness will return next week to wrap up the series.

39-year-old Nick Easter played 54 times for England and scored 13 tries, including two hat-tricks, one in the his final appearance for England in the 2015 World Cup. A skillful number eight with cricketer’s hands, his offloading and distribution are hallmarks of a rounded game. Nick is now defence coach for Harlequins, the club he represented 281 times.

by James While