Saturday, February 04, 2012

England win the Calcutta Cup, but how were they really?

There were many things not so good with England's game. And if the Scots hadn't mucked up so much, it would probably have been a different result. But, compared with the miserable World Cup 2011 squad:
* tacklers rolled away quickly
* players arrived quickly at the breakdown
* tackling was strong and consistent
* players didn't give away silly penalties in our half (well not many!)
* players played to the ref, not to their interpretation of the rules
* they seemed to be committed to winning
* they had pride and passion
* they were a team

On the downside
* they let Scotland gift them the game
* they were far too narrow in defence, although Scotland let them get away with it

Overall, I think this is possibly quite a good start to the 4 year campaign for a 2015 World Cup Victory.

File under optimist!

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