At last the British & Irish Lions beat those pesky South Africans!!

Well done to all.

I personally thought for most of the game against the Aussies, last week,  we were the better team. The difference is that they knew how to score. They knew how to pass, catch and run all at the same time – something that I can only presume must be cheating. We concentrated so much on the battle of the front rows that we forgot about the other 12 players.

Then came the South Africans. I watched the first half at home and then needed to watch the second half in the pub. Everyone in the pub and everyone in the media seem to be of the opinion that Cipriani is the future and Martin Johnson and England just need time.

Unfortunately where Martin Johnson is concerned people are making so many excuses to give him a chance, they are missing the overall picture. The England performance was not about 15 (+reserves) players playing crap, it was about 15 decent players with dreadful tactics. Every ruck – guess what? The ball would be passed to one of two forwards hanging off to the side, the other 6 forwards were in the ruck winning the ball from the one South African who had made the tackle, the result is that you had a huge green defensive line to break through. The media are praising the Sprinkbok defence but to be honest we have no idea how good it is because it was never tested.

If you had a chance to watch the Rugby League World Cup final in the morning you would have seen a group of players passing the ball in front of another player thus allowing them to run onto the ball at pace. Why is this simple and obvious tactic reserved for Rugby League and Rugby Union at schoolboy level (in England). Danny Cipriani might develop into a stand off, but the position requires you to control your backs and get them moving at pace. It also requires some tactical kicking ability. Danny fails at both of the basic attributes of a stand off. Yes, he has flare. Yes, he has potential. Yes, he can make nice breaks once in a while (and yes he has got a good looking girlfriend), but he is an inside center at best and not a no.10.

One last point. We have one player who would walk into any other team in the world and he starts on the bench for England. Matt Stevens is probably one of the best ‘ball carrying’ props in the world and he starts on the bench. Go figure.

Yes, that was the opening line in the BBC’s report of England’s match against the All Blacks.
Personally speaking I switched off when New Zealand scored their two tries in the opening 10 minutes of the second half. The first try (in the second half) was scored after a forward pass. If someone passes the ball a yard before the 22 yard line and the receiver takes that ball two yards in front of said line, then chances are it was forward. The linesman was in direct line the referee was there but yet no not one person questioned the try, not even the commentators.
The second try was a result of an England fumble but seconds previous, the ball was knocked forward, by a New Zealander, thanks to a Charlie Hodgson tackle. While the England players stopped, expecting the referee to call a scrum in their favour, the All Blacks scored.
So the final score of 37-20 with 14 points removed makes it 23-20 – hardly put to the sword for a young inexperienced England team.
The English pack, I thought, were amazing and outshone the New Zealand pack (although perhaps only just) but I freely admit that the better team on the day won, but put to the sword – hardly.
I now find the rules of Rugby Union so complicated and the ability of so many people to have different interpretations of these rules that the game now holds little interest for me.
Ask your Rugby mates to explain certain decisions during a match and they will fail to do this or at best will have a completely different view to the next bloke. Once the Rugby Union fraternity (players, coaches, officials and commentators) admit they don’t know the rules we will have a chance to clean up the game for everyone but I am afraid to admit the obvious would be just too embarrassing.

Well, I did say hopefully. But, it looks like he’s staying.

The RFU are now hinting at bringing in Martin Johnson as manager and while he has no managerial experience as such, he must have learnt something from his time under Sir Clive Woodward and if he serves as a talisman for the team it might just work. Hopefully!