‘Why do you have to finesse it?’ – Joe Marler happy to win ‘ugly’ like 2003 vintage
England front-row Joe Marler.
Veteran front-row Joe Marler has used England’s 2003 World Cup-winning team as an example to illustrate his belief that winning ugly is to be applauded if it results in success.
England are in first position in Pool D at this year’s Rugby World Cup in France after notching comprehensive wins over Argentina and Japan but, for different reasons, neither display has set the tournament alight.
Plenty of kicking
Sunday’s victory over the Brave Blossoms saw plenty of kicking from the Red Rose as they put boot to ball 42 times, and it resulted in them gaining a whopping 1,175 metres.
Although England secured a bonus-point win, their pragmatic approach did not go down too well with a section of their fans, who booed their team’s style of play.
Marler is not bothered by the criticism and recalls Martin Johnson’s England team used to conservative tactics to win the 2003 World Cup in Australia, including beating the Wallabies in the final through a Jonny Wilkinson drop goal.
“Finesse – why do you have to finesse it? You’ve just got to win, haven’t you? What did England do 20 years ago? Find a way to win in the World Cup,” the Harlequins prop said.
“A lot of people talk about style of play. In 2003, they went a couple of phases; Jonny slotted some penalties and some drop-goals.
“They won ugly, a lot of that tournament they won ugly, but we don’t talk about that now, do we? We talk about them winning the World Cup. You forget about how you did it.
“You don’t talk about South Africa getting pumped in the first game against New Zealand in 2019; you talk about them pumping us in the final and then lifting the trophy.
“We’ll keep trying and taking the lessons from each game, and we’ll keep trying to finesse. But ultimately, it’s about the win. We’re not getting ahead of ourselves at all.”
England fans turned on the players early in the second half against Japan when Alex Mitchell kicked the ball dead, and the groans persisted until that game’s latter stages.
“We’re here to win games; that’s our job. We’re here to win Test matches. We want to make every fan and every English fan proud,” man of the match George Ford said.
Value the support
“We understand the sacrifice and commitment they make to come and support us, and we value that so highly.
“But we want to be a winning team, and we want them to be proud of a winning team as well.”
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