Before the 6N started one of the more popular rugby forums was running a thread titled, “Your tournament hopes and fears”. It asked fans to state their ideal tournament, and their nightmare scenario.
My ideal realistic outcome was to lose no more than one match and to finish no worse than second. My nightmare scenario was to lose to Wales in the opener then to lose possibly two more matches, finishing fourth or even fifth.
As the 2008 championship now recedes already rapidly behind us, aspects of my worst and best scenarios both came to pass. We did lose to Wales, but we did come second. A curate’s egg then. Well, more like a curate’s battery egg farm actually.
The fact that England managed to sneak into the runners up spot is astonishing and frankly an indictment of the rest of the teams (Wales apart). It will no doubt be used by the urbane Mr. Andrew as evidence that England are “improving”, “moving to where we want to be”, “beginning to play the type of rugby we are know we are capable of” or some such. Any such cant however should be challenged in the strongest terms as if it is used to justify the status quo then it is the worst result possible for England.
What seems obvious is that things cannot remain as they are. The rumours of dressing room unrest are again surfacing and the knives are now well and truly out for Mr. Ashton and, in some quarters, Mr. Andrew. If Ashton et al survive the post 6N “review” (Mr. Andrew does seem fond of these exhaustive reviews doesn’t he?) they would surely not survive two 60 point maulings by New Zealand in June.
So how did England lurch from disaster to triumph back to disaster then to their best finish since 2003?
Wales (Lost 19-26)
Disaster. Total. Comfortable if not secure at half time, mashed at full time. I did not think Wales played that badly, or England that well, in the first half. One more score would probably have killed the game off. But England could not find that score. Disappointing injuries to the sick notes Moody and Strettle (as well as the nearly man that never was Rees) certainly unsettled England. Given that you would have thought 10-man rugby in the second half was the order of the day, whose brainwave was it to put Kay in the back row and then run everything from everywhere? Where was the direction from the coaches? Where was the leadership from key players? Unbelievable. Glad I did not buy tickets to this one.
Italy (Won 19-23)
Appalling again. One bit of flukey skill for Sackey’s try and that was it. Italy should have won and would have won if they possessed a half decent halfback. Worrying times.
France (Won 13-24)
World Cup semi final revisited. England revert to type and go large on defence and decent forward play. And France commit rugby suicide. Seriously, someone should tell Lievremont that the great French teams of the past had abundant running flair but they also had some of the nastiest, most physical forwards ever to play the game. One moment near the end summed it up for me. Five minutes left, France field a kick in their 22. Surely they will kick downfield as far as they can to get position? No, they run it, knock on and cede possession from which England score the clinching try! I was strangely muted after this game. Happy yes, but not as delighted as the drunken fans around me. It was like getting a credit card to pay off an overdraft.
Scotland (Lost 15-9)
What can one say? The worst game I have ever seen England play. In 30 years. Not even the debacles in the mid 80s were this bad. Following as it did on the heels of Dannygate, this was a bitter pill to swallow. Ashton was now in siege mode. Lose to Ireland and he would be out on his a**e. Credit to Scotland though for again being our Achilles heel.
Ireland (Won 33-10)
Dom has reviewed this on this site. Not much to add. Danny showed the way forward ( and you gotta love his f*****g interview style!) but it was just too little too late and left you just so angry at what might have been. If we could play so poorly so often and still come second? What would we be like if we actually had a clue?
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