The message has gone out to the Aviva Premiership clubs, conveyed by the country’s elite players. If England are to have a chance of winning the World Cup next year — and that probably means beating New Zealand — they have to play with greater tempo.
Small word, big task, because it involves a fundamental shift in fitness, decision-making, communication, leadership and skill levels. The importance of the first of that quintet leaked out of the recent England training camp in Loughborough. “We’ve been told we’ve got to be fitter,” Tom Wood, the Northampton flanker, said. And that is true. They have.
Data gathered from the summer internationals suggests that the ball-in-play time in a match against the top southern hemisphere sides is eight minutes longer than the average Premiership or European fixture. In an ideal world, that gap will close.
The All Blacks have a built-in advantage here. The men in charge of the five New Zealand franchises that make up the tier below international level are employed by the New Zealand Rugby Union and are told what to do. In England, the Premiership directors of rugby are answerable only to their chairmen, chief executives, fans and their own consciences.
But it is more, much more, than fitness. The World Cup boot camp, which starts on June 23, 11 weeks before England’s opening match against Fiji on September 18, will take care of any strength and conditioning issues. England will also require their men to think quicker, scan space more rapidly, talk to each other more effectively, all of which demands a level of understanding and commitment that no northern hemisphere team are capable of at present.
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The lesson, if ever one were needed, about All Blacks excellence occurred in the first 30 minutes of the final international against England and for most of their recent run-in with Australia. Study those games and it is clear that chunks were choreographed in the team meetings beforehand, that New Zealand took to the field knowing precisely what they would do with specific attacking scrums and lineouts and off turnover ball in certain areas of the pitch, significantly reducing opposition reaction time.
That sounds like old school, like the coaches removing the last smidgin of self-determinism from their players. Not a bit of it. It allows New Zealand to stress teams to make the most of their (generally) better individual skillsets.
The rhythm of some of the less appetising games in the Premiership, where the forwards huddle to decide on the throw, where the play makers whisper to decide on which strike move to use, was fast-tracked. There were no conversations, no calls from the All Blacks. They went into their rehearsed routines with such speed and efficiency that they were in play and attacking before defensive lines were set and ready. And the result? Both games dead in the water by half-time.
Asking a team to play at pace, to think on their feet, to react to situations — choose your cliché — has long been sport’s ultimate destination, but getting a team to that point is fiendishly difficult. Brian Ashton, England’s head coach at the 2007 World Cup, strove to do that with his squad, but his methods were so revolutionary at the time, so far from what his players were comfortable with, that they staged a mini-revolt, pleading to be told what to do and how to play.
Culture and climate now are different. John Kingston, a wise old head on the Harlequins coaching staff, has preached this philosophy for a while, and Quins, on their good days, are a team who can force the pace in big matches. There are signs that Saracens, less structured now, are moving down this path, as are Northampton, Exeter, Leicester, Gloucester, Bath and Wasps.
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The more enlightened coaches are also constructing drills that encourage players to be more aware of the options in front of them. One such example is where an outside half is asked to shout out the name of the open-side defender, standing wide out on the wing, before he receives the ball from his scrum half. Owen Farrell, say, has to scan the bigger picture — how the defence is aligned, where slow forwards might be, what space is available for the kick — as well as concentrating on the breakdown and the quality of ball he is going to get from his No 9. And all this comes in a session during which the pace is being kept deliberately frenetic.
Better, clearer communication is crucial to spotting and taking advantage of opportunities. In an age when many young rugby players are used to communicating via the technology on their smartphones, rather than talking on the wretched things, strategies are in place to improve the exchange of information on the pitch. Chris Pennell, Worcester’s full back and the only individual to break into England’s 55-man training squad from outside the Premiership, impressed on the tour to New Zealand with his rugby intelligence. One moment in the midweek game against Canterbury Crusaders, when he spotted a full back out of position, then told Brad Barritt, who prodded a kick into the space for a score, was particularly sweet.
There is a caveat, though, to the brave new world that may be about to engulf the Premiership, and it is a big one. By seeking to take on New Zealand at their own game, are England in danger of forgetting theirs? Because there is a strong argument, especially at a World Cup, where the semi-finals and final will be in a roofless Twickenham at the end of an October susceptible to inclement weather, to suggest that England — and the Premiership, come to that — should stick to what they are good at: first-phase supremacy, huge physicality, aggressive defence and a top-notch goalkicker.
Me? I think the game has moved on, and we need more than that. At domestic and international level.