Yes, they had a great result against Ireland but maybe the coaches should be aware of players becoming more relaxed in their approach to the game. As good as England were, they still had to rely on France failing in their defence. France’s defence coach Shaun Edwards would have expected that, after taking a 16-3 lead early in the game, France would have held onto that lead. Edwards also said that you shouldn’t have to score 30 points to win a game and he is right. Both teams scoring lots of points shows a lack of true competition and a weakness in both teams’ coaching and delivery.
If you can score 10 or more points without reply, you should be able to defend that lead with a solid defence and control the flow of the game. As both England and France managed to take the lead at different times it showed both have good attack (it seems Richard Wigglesworth is getting his message through at last), but losing that advantage showed a failure to focus in defence. While large scores like the French game seem to be what some of the players now feel are needed to excite fans, I am not so sure.
This story is from the March 24, 2024 edition of The Rugby Paper.
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This story is from the March 24, 2024 edition of The Rugby Paper.
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