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Tindall urges England to 'hunt' vulnerable Scotland
By Peter Thompson
Mike Tindall wants to see England go "hunting" and take advantage of Scotland's vulnerable defence in the Six Nations clash at Murrayfield on Saturday.
Scotland were hammered 34-7 by Wales in the first game of the tournament and shipped 26 points in a victory over France last time out.
England were effective rather than entertaining in a tense win over Wales after seeing off Italy as they aim to become the first side to win the competition outright three years in a row.
Tindall thinks Scotland's expansive style could give the holders a chance to show what they are capable of with ball in hand after thrashing their rivals from north of the border 61-21 in the Calcutta Cup showdown last year.
Speaking at the Tournoi des 6 Stations Orangina, the former England centre told Omnisport: "Scotland haven't had much of a defence for this Six Nations, so they are going to have to work on that.
"It gives England a lot of chances to go out there and try and break them down. They put a lot of points on them last year, but this has been talked of as a potential banana skin for a long time.
"If Scotland can shore up their defence, they are always going to offer something in attack, but that can be good for England, as you want them to throw the ball around and take chances.
"Eddie Jones has talked about hunting and going after teams and at the moment I don't think he's really got them to do that, but this Scotland defence could provide that opportunity.
"I thought they targeted Rhys Patchell well in the Wales game, but it would be nice to see them hunting tries.
"I was still impressed with England against Wales, but I think everyone wants to see them throwing the ball around a bit more and produce the sort of performance which they haven't really had since the Australia tour Down Under."
- Tindall was among the former internationals competing in the Tournoi des 6 Stations Orangina [The 6 Stations Tournament] on the snow in the French Alps from February 12-18. For more information on the event visit http://tournoides6stations.com/en/
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Latest Comments
I agree.
I’d like to know what constitutes a 208 week ban though?
Must the eyeball be dislodged? Hanging by a vein?
Go to commentsAlso a Bristol fan and echo your sentiments.
I love watching Bristol but their approach will only get them so far I think. Exeter played like this when they first got promoted to the prem and had intermittent success, it wasn't until they wised up and played a more balanced game that they became a consistently top side.
I really want Bristol to continue playing this brand of rugby and I don't mind them running it from under their posts but I don't think they need to do it every single time. They need to be just a little bit more selective about when and where on the pitch they play. Every game they put themselves under so much needless pressure by turning the ball over under their posts trying to do kamikaze moves when it's not required. By all means run it from your goal line if there is a chance for a counter attack, we all want to see Bristol running in 100m tries from under their posts but I think until they learn when to do it and when to be pragmatic, they are unlikely to win the premiership.
Defense has been a real positive from Bristol, they've shown a lot of improvement there... And I will say that I think this kamikaze strategy they employ is a very good one for a struggling side and could be employed by Newcastle. It's seems to have turned around Gloucester's fortunes. The big advantage is even if you don't have the biggest and best players, what you have is cohesion. This is why Scotland keep battering England. England have better individuals but they look muddled as a team, trying to play a mixed strategy under coaches who lack charisma, the team has no identity. Scotland come out and give it full throttle from 1-15 even if they struggle against the top sides, sides like England and Wales who lack that identity drown under the relentless will and synergy of the Scots. If Newcastle did the same they could really surprise some people, I know the weather is bad up there but it hasn't bothered the Scots. Bristol can learn from Scotland too, Pat is on to something when he says the following but Scotland don't play test matches like headless chickens. They still play with the same level of clarity and ambition Bristol do but they are much better at picking their moments. They needed to go back to this mad game to get their cohesion back after a couple of seasons struggling but I hope they get a bit wiser from matches like Leinster and La Rochelle.
“If there’s clarity on what you’re trying to do as a team you can win anything.”
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