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'Clueless' - Lawrence Dallaglio leads condemnation as Sunday papers tear into England
By PA
Former England captain Lawrence Dallaglio led the condemnation of a “clueless” 11-6 defeat by Scotland as Eddie Jones’ champions launched their title defence in dire fashion.
The magnificent Scots orchestrated their first victory at Twickenham since 1983 to reclaim the Calcutta Cup through a dominant performance that was blunted only by their failure to score more points.
Dallaglio, who won 85 caps from 1995 to 2007, was scathing in his assessment as the Calcutta Cup was taken back to Edinburgh on the 150th anniversary of international rugby’s oldest fixture.
“England looked clueless. Not just for parts of it, all game,” Dallaglio said in his column for the Sunday Times.
“Whatever the cause, it’s got to be sorted out quickly because that was as bad as it gets. This is not me being overcritical. It was there for everyone to see.
“I’ve got nothing but respect for these England players but you’ve got to keep earning respect and they didn’t do that in this game.
“The players need to take a very long, hard look at themselves and come up with some answers. I thought England didn’t fire a shot.
“I felt there was a mindset problem. England hadn’t anything like the same energy and hunger that Scotland had.
“Of course the team were without a number of key performers but that’s no excuse for an abject performance.”
England’s most capped full-back Mike Brown was damning of the attacking failings – a recurring fault of Jones’ team since the autumn.
Brown, a favourite of the Australian head coach until the end of his Test career in 2018, called for captain Owen Farrell to be dropped at fly-half in an attempt to ignite the 2019 World Cup runners-up.
“Eddie Jones talks about giving the English rugby public something to smile about in the current climate but people can’t be enjoying this England,” Brown said in the Mail on Sunday.
“Next weekend could be time for a change and I would put Owen Farrell on the bench and start with George Ford against Italy on Saturday.
“Compared to his usual high standards Farrell was poor at Twickenham, with England wasting four-man overlaps and kicking the ball away.
“Enough is enough now and I would give Ford a chance to show how he can lead the backs.
“I would rather see England get some of their dangerous players into the match and give them a chance to express themselves – I don’t enjoy watching kick-chase all the time and I am sure people at home don’t either.”
Sir Clive Woodward, the mastermind of England’s 2003 World Cup triumph, also pulled no punches.
“The score flattered England, it was nowhere near that close. Make no mistake, this was a huge setback for Eddie Jones and the squad,” Woodward said in the Mail on Sunday.
“The team selected was fine – I really liked the look of the team actually – but their game plan and execution was very poor.
“Owen Farrell was in a state of shock during the post-match interviews. If we are brutally honest England scarcely fired a shot.”
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Warren, if you think you should stay on coaching Wales, you are beyond deluded. If you love Wales & Welsh rugby as much as you say you do (& I'm sure you probably do) you should resign immediately so this once proud & passionate rugby nation can rebuild without you. How many of your players will make the British & Irish Lions squad.?
It's time to walk the plank.!
Go to commentsYeah nar I pretty much agree with that sentiment, wasn't just about the lineout though.
Yeah, I think it's the future of SR, even TRC. Graham above just now posting about how good a night it was with a dbl header of ENGvSA and NZvFrance, and now I don't want to kick SA or Argentina out of TRC but it would be great if in this next of the woods 2 more top teams could come in to create more of these sort of nights (for rugby's appeal). Often Arg and SA and both travel here and you get those games but more often doesn't work out right.
Obviously a long way off but USA and Japan are the obvious two. First thing we need to do is get Eddie Jones kicked out of Japan so they can start improving again and then get a couple of US teams in SRP (even if one its just a US based and augmented Jaguares).
It will start off the whole conferences are crap debate again (which I will continue to argue vehemently against), but imagine a 6 team Pacific conference, Tokyo Sunwolves (drafted from Tokyo JRLO teams), Tokyo All Stars (made up of best remaining foreign players and overseas drafts), ALL Nihon (best of local non Tokyo based talent, inc China/Korea etc, with mainland Japan), a could of West Coast american franchises and perhaps a second self PI driven Hawai'i based team, or Jagaures. So I see a short NFL like 3 or 4 month comp as fitting best, maybe not even a full round, NZvAUSvPAC, all games taking place within a 6hr window. Model for NZ will definitely still require a competitive and funded NPC!
On the Crusaders, I liked last years ending with Grace on the bench (ovbiously form dependent but thats how it ended) and Lio-Willie at 8. I could have Blackadder trying to be a 7 but think balance will be used with him at 6 and Kellow as 7. Scott Barrett is an international 6 sized player. It is just NZ style/model that pushes him into the tight, I reckon he'd be a great loose player, and saders have Strange and Cahill as bigger players (plus that change could draw someone like Darry back). Same with Haig now, hes not grown yet but Barrett hight and been playing 6, now that the Highlanders have only chosen two locks he'll be playing lock, and that is going to change his growth trajectory massively, rather than seeing him grow like an International 6.
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