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Rugby World Cup
Author: Pete South 06/10/2011
Somehow, someway, England continue to stumble forward in the World Cup, lurching from side to side as the morning papers bring with it another allegation of lewd, outlandish behaviour but managing to fall forward rather than being knocked back.
Amidst all the distractions and indiscretions it is easy to forget that this Saturday brings with it two of the greatest rivalries in world rugby as France come up against England and South Africa go in searching of revenge for their Tri Nations mauling against Australia.
As luck would have it, England find themselves only the second most chaotic team at the tournament, and they’ll coming up against the car-wreck waiting to happen that is Les Blues on Saturday.
Marc Lièvremont’s time in charge of France has been marked by two things; Idiosyncratic outbursts -he claimed he “disliked” the English during the 6 Nations, adding that England is an “insular country who always drape themselves in the national flag, their hymns, their chants, their traditions” - and an erratic selection policy that confused the New Zealand media so much they accused his side of trying to deliberately lose against the All Blacks.
Throw in some outbursts against his decision to go public with his criticism of his team’s disastrous performance against Tonga and you have a recipe hand delivered from the French national football team right to their ruby counterparts. Free bets have already consigned this French team to the waste bin, and unless they address some issues sooner rather than later they may well be right.
But rather than focus on their opponents tendency to self-implode, England head coach must address a rather serious matter of his own first.
Coming into the tournament Johnson had problems with both his first choice scrum half and his first choice fly half.
Ben Youngs was still recovering from injury while Jonny Wilkinson and Toby Flood were still vying for the ten jersey, and four games into the tournament the waters have become even murkier.
While not solely their fault Youngs and Wilkinson were symptomatic of the problems England have endured on the pitch. Against Scotland Youngs was ponderous, seemingly unsure in his ability to whip the ball out of the back of a ruck and fire it onwards, while Wilkinson looked like a man lost and unsure as to how his kicking nous has managed to desert him at his time of need.
Contrast that with the arrival of Flood and scrum-half Richard Wigglesworth and the difference could not be more stark.
Wigglesworth was a whippet, flitting around the base of a maul and releasing the ball without taking a step to catch the Scottish defence unaware with Flood happily on the receiving end to put a bit of width on the ball.
It came as no surprise that the pair were responsible for Chris Ashton’s match defining try. Flood even slotted the extremely tight conversion to make a point to Johnson up in the stands.
Of course Wilkinson’s record against the French is impeccable. Having kicked England to victory against the French in two consecutive World Cups, he is an arch-nemesis to the men across the channel, even if a coastal town of Southern France have adopted him as their hero because of his exploits in the French Top 14 domestic league.
Youngs and Wilkinson are free bet favourites to start against the French, and with a lot to prove both could burst into life and drive England into the semi’s. But they will have two men who know how to inject pace into a game, something England so desperately need, sitting idly watching the game unfold from the comfort of the bench.
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