Stuart Lancaster’s verdict on England’s latest ‘world of pain’ and the ‘plan B’ he would develop if he was in charge of the Springboks
Luke Cowan-Dickie is sent flying during to the floor during England's loss to South Africa, a match that piqued the interest of their ex-boss Stuart Lancaster, inset
Ex-England boss Stuart Lancaster has reacted to seeing his former team’s latest losing streak extend to five Test matches and added what he would do to make the Springboks even more dangerous if he were in Rassie Erasmus’ shoes.
Having succeeded Martin Johnson at the helm for the 2012 Six Nations, Lancaster stepped away from the England job following their failure to qualify from their pool for the knockout stages of the 2015 Rugby World Cup. He has since held positions with Leinster and Racing 92 before moving to Connacht after his bid to succeed Joe Schmidt as the Wallabies coach didn’t succeed.
Ahead of beginning pre-season with his Galway-based club on Monday, Lancaster was on TV punditry duty for Virgin Media on Saturday, providing analysis for the Irish channel on their coverage of the South Africa versus England match.
The Springboks won the Nations Championship opener 45-21 in Johannesburg, and Lancaster was put on the spot back in the studio in Dublin when asked what his reaction to the 24-point defeat would be if he were still coaching England 11 years after he was turfed out of the job and replaced by Eddie Jones.
“Beaten out the gate in the second half…”
“Obviously, you are going to be as positive as you can be,” he began. “You need to be realistic and accept the fact you were beaten out the gate in the second half, but I don’t think it will do any good to hammer the players, personally.
“I’d be talking about the positives that there are a lot of young English players who are 22, 23, 24, 25 years old trying to find their way in international rugby and this [Johannesburg] is one of the most difficult places in the world to play against a team that is formidable at the moment.
“I personally would not be dwelling on it too long. I’d be thinking of getting ourselves back to the UK, getting back and getting ready for the Fiji game and the Argentina game, making sure we finish strong.
“There are maybe some positional things. I’d prefer Tommy Freeman on the wing personally, so I’d be thinking about a couple of changes. The bench clearly was outgunned. There may be some changes in terms of back-row personnel, but overall, I’d try and be as upbeat as I can but being realistic.
“There were too many errors, discipline was not good enough and they lost the collision. South Africa just went to route one rugby, and route one rugby for South Africa typically will work.
“So, there needs to be a collective mindset about increasing physicality across the board in defence and that means getting back, getting set, getting off the line and being prepared to go and whack people – and I don’t think there was enough of that in the second half.”
Delving deeper into an England loss where they initially fell 17-0 behind after just 12 minutes and were then limited to just seven points in a disappointing second half where they finished with 13 players after overlapping yellow cards, Lancaster declared that his old team doesn’t have the game plan at the moment under Borthwick to defeat a team like South Africa.
“Clearly the (South African) messages at half-time were go to the maul, use the scrum, the kicking game. England persisted with the winger going back and trying to win the aerial contest as opposed to the full-back coming forward; I don’t think they had much success there as a consequence.
“The pressure game began to tell, and inevitably when you are defending that much and particularly close to the line, the power game comes into it. To beat South Africa, you need to play the game of movement and England didn’t get enough ball.
“They attacked from the edge to the short side and back again and that resulted in the Alex Coles try, but there was a key moment when Fin Smith broke the line and went for the offload; if they had scored then…
“But that mindset to want to play to space, if you are asking me about England’s DNA, I don’t think with the personnel they have at the moment the power to beat a South Africa in a World Cup final. For me, England need to evolve in the game of movement and within that a smart kicking game and ability to then play the pressure game when it is needed and deliver pressure into points.
“That’s personnel dependent. As a coach, you can have all the ideas in the world of how you want to play the game, but you are to a certain extent dictated to by the personnel you have,” he said, going on to reference the negative impact the yellow cards for Freeman and Guy Pepper had.
“It’s a huge moment and the power comes on, fatigue sets in and they start dropping off the tackles and then the second yellow, you are in a world of pain. The maul try was inevitable, and the scrum penalties on the back of that as well were inevitable really.”
Lancaster then reflected on Jamie George’s post-match interview, adding what England must now do if they are to snap their five-match losing run and change the outlook in their remaining two July matches,
“He is a very good captain, a very good leader, Jamie George. Credit to him, he always fronts up, he never shies away from the difficult question and always gives an honest response. With people like him, I can see why Steve has made him the captain.
“Ollie Chessum going forward has got captaincy potential as well, but I come back to the point, there are a lot of these English lads who are 23, 24, 25 years old. It wasn’t that long ago I was watching them play for England 20s and they have got a lot of growth in them still to come.
“If I was England coach, I would want them to be properly hurting. I see them walking around the stadium and I am thinking, ‘Geez, lads, do you know what is coming against Fiji and Argentina?’
“Fiji, on the back of losing to Wales, will come and double down on the physicality piece, so England need to win and win well next Saturday, and to then get on a plane and fly to Argentina; I know Felipe Contepomi is disappointed in how it went the last few games against England, it will be unbelievably difficult there as well.
“How you finish the season has a big, big effect on how you feel physically, mentally and emotionally going into the off-season and then into the pre-season as a player but also as a country. England need to finish well. It has been an unbelievably difficult start, but they have got a chance now, two wins, to finish well and they need to take it because if they don’t it will be a long off-season.”
Lancaster finished up his analysis by stepping into the shoes of Erasmus and explaining what he would do to further power up the Springboks with the countdown now on in their attempt to win a third successive World Cup when the tournament is hosted in Australia in October 2027.
“I know South Africa won the World Cup (in 2023), but they won it by one point, one point, one point. It was incredible, and Ireland beat them in the pool stages so it can be done.
“South Africa still need to develop a plan B to go with that and they have the tools to do that; they just chose not to take it. There is definitely times when I see the forward pod taking the ball off nine.
“Manie Libbok is out the back and I am thinking, just pull the trigger, just go out the back, play to space and you’ll kill them because you’ll start moving the defence, you will get to the edge. You can play on top of them and then you get your wingers working off nine or off 10 and it’s a nightmare defensively.
“So, they won (on Saturday) by playing route one but if I was in charge I’d be thinking, okay, let’s keep trying to expand. This is the first game of a long block from now until the end of November, so I am sure they will have that in their minds.
“If they can layer on that detail and that quality in terms of mindset to play to space in attack, then they are going to be even harder (to beat).”