SENIOR England players involved in the World Cup campaign fear that lessons have not been learnt from the 2011 tournament and that radical change at the top is needed if England are to become powerhouses of the game again. This is the damning conclusion delivered by players as they revealed the extent of their concerns about England’s World Cup experience.
Over the next few weeks, the RFU will put together a panel to review the World Cup disaster. That panel will talk to players and management about the reasons for the early exit, and the subject of Stuart Lancaster’s role as head coach will feature prominently.
If the testimony of the players to whom this paper spoke last week is anything to go by, that review will make unhappy reading for Lancaster and alarm the RFU.
The players have spoken on condition of anonymity but insist they are not speaking out of malice or as a knee-jerk reaction aided by hindsight.
They stress their opinions are personal and are designed to stimulate a debate about what went wrong and what needs to be done. One said the players were “itching” to have their say in the Twickenham review.
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“We are all embarrassed, hurt and disappointed,” he said. “We don’t want a repeat in 2019 for whoever is going to be there. The issues need to be put out there. This is a repeat in a way of 2011 but worse because it was a home World Cup.”
“[Being knocked out] feels worse now, not better,” another player said. “People make their names in World Cups and gain worldwide respect. But which of this squad will be rated on the world stage?”
The thrust of the players’ concerns is that while Lancaster did a huge amount of good things in the build-up to the tournament, including the summer training camp in Denver which was described by one as outstanding, he lost his way as the World Cup approached.
The issues raised are wide-ranging and cover contentious areas such as selection, the quality of coaching, a controlling management environment and the belief that a heavyweight, experienced head coach with a proven track record must now be appointed. “The RFU is the richest [union] in the world,” one player said. “There is no excuse for not getting the best to sort things out.”
ANGRY YOUNG MANU
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One player indicated the warning signs were evident over the summer, starting with the treatment of Manu Tuilagi. The Samoan-born centre told friends he felt he had been treated as a “Judas” by Lancaster and says it would be difficult to play under the head coach again because of what he calls a breakdown in trust.
Tuilagi was convicted of assaulting two female police officers in April after an altercation with a taxi driver and banished from the World Cup. But he is adamant that he was “betrayed”, and that his side of the story had never properly been heard. Last month he said: “I always own up to what I’ve done, but I feel with this one like I’ve owned up to what I’ve not done. I didn’t assault any of the police officers.
“It looks like I have beaten up the two police officers, which is not the case, but it’s out there and it’s what I’ve got to deal with.”
On legal advice, he agreed to plead guilty to bring a swift resolution to a case which might have been adjourned until during the World Cup. He told Lancaster of his intentions the day before and also that he might not be fit for the World Cup because of a groin injury. But he was not ruling himself out. He has made it be known that the first he knew about being dropped was via a press conference.
One person who knows Tuilagi well said: “Manu is still very angry at the way he was treated. The way he feels now is that he doesn’t think he could play under Stuart Lancaster again. The trust has gone. He feels he has been ‘Judased’. Don’t take this to mean he has turned his back on England, though. He desperately wants to play for his country again.”
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His friends say that the way Lancaster reacted was in stark contrast to how New Zealand and Australia would have dealt with similar situations. “They would have got their leadership group to support Manu, to help resolve things. Look what they did for Kurtley Beale and, to an extent, Zac Guildford.”
Tuilgai is recovering from injury and should be ready to play for Leicester Tigers next month.
LANCASTER THE RELEGATOR
Throughout his tenure Lancaster has had to deal with unfavourable comparisons with the likes of Warren Gatland, Joe Schmidt and Clive Woodward, all of whom boast coaching records and experience at club and international level that far exceed that of the Cumbrian. Martyn Thomas, the former RFU chairman, said last week he had warned England not to appoint Lancaster because his credentials did not stack up.
One player on the fringe of the squad apparently called Lancaster The Relegator because he had been in charge of Leeds when they went down from the Premiership in 2006. They were, however, promoted back from National League One the following season.
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“England can’t go through this again,” said another player. “We have won one Six Nations in 13 years. It is ridiculous. Look back at the coaches since Woodward — Robinson, Ashton, Johnson, Lancaster. Where is the world-respected big-hitter? We need a head coach who has been there and done it. England should not be a stepping stone or a proving ground, or somewhere a coach learns on the job. You have to wonder that if Lancaster stays he won’t be able to attract top-quality coaches we need.”
NO JOY, NO GLORY
Nobody can argue that Lancaster’s approach to cleaning up England’s tainted reputation in the early days was not warranted. The question is: did he take it too far?
One player spoke of a “controlling environment. We should have been having the time of our lives,” he said. “But we didn’t feel like we were part of the World Cup. We were so isolated at Pennyhill Park.
“We were never able to soak up the World Cup buzz. We only got a feel for it at the grounds. Stuart was so terrified of any potential issues that he clamped down on everything.”
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CENTRE OF ATTENTION
The selection of Sam Burgess for the squad and for the pivotal game against Wales became a big distraction. It is widely felt that Burgess had not done enough since his switch from rugby league to justify his inclusion. Players felt Lancaster made a mistake by not including Luther Burrell.
“However, it should never have been about Burgess or Burrell. It should have been Burrell and either Sam or Henry Slade. You couldn’t have both Sam and Henry. They were so inexperienced. [Jonathan] Joseph’s injury highlighted the folly of Burrell’s absence. England were left with two centres who had only four caps between them and you couldn’t play Burgess and Slade together.”
THE CHANGING MAN
As the World Cup got closer and the pressure on England as the host nation mounted, Lancaster chopped and changed his selection and never allowed the team to settle. “We had one style for one game and another for another. There was no continuity,” one player said.
“After nearly four years you couldn’t name with any certainty most of the England team. In the Six Nations we went out to play a certain style of rugby and it was great. We almost won the championship. Then everything changed against Wales. You forget we beat a pretty good Ireland team just before the tournament.
“Our conditioning in the pre-World Cup camps was designed to play a really fast game. We had to do so much running. Yet we ended up playing a physical defensive game. We would have been better off in the gym getting massive.”
Some have also questioned Lancaster’s ability to take tough decisions. “Ben Morgan was not fit for the World Cup. He had only played a couple of games in nine months. On top of that, the coaches should have factored in the mental aspect — a lot goes on inside Ben’s head. So why not pick a fit and in-form Nick Easter?”
TROUBLE AT THE TOP
Others referred to a muddled attacking philosophy. “Stuart relied too much on other coaches. He had the attacking blueprint, [Andy] Farrell was responsible for first-phase attack and [Mike] Catt multi-phase attack. There was no cohesion and each wanted their input. There was no single voice responsible for attack. All three wanted to get their bit in. We didn’t have a Wayne Smith and we needed one.”
After injury curtailed his World Cup, Billy Vunipola allegedly said Farrell had too much influence and that Lancaster had never coached him. After widespread publicity, he denied making the comments.
BENCH BLUNDER
With Burgess in the side, England led Wales 22-12 after an hour. Then replacements were made which turned the tempo and rhythm of the game in Wales’s favour.
“The make-up of the bench was poor. If you want to make an impact you shouldn’t have Richard Wigglesworth at scrum-half but Danny Care — a game-changer. Playing Wigglesworth off the bench produces a different dynamic and not one that can change a game. It is easier for opponents who can easily adapt.”
QUESTIONS OF LEADERSHIP
Lancaster always made great play of the importance of developing leaders in the squad, those who could be trusted to guide England in times of trouble. But one player wondered whether this disguised perceived shortcomings among the coaches. “There was an element that the coaches pushed the ‘leaders’ bit among the squad because they, the coaches, didn’t know the answers themselves. You got that sense sometimes.” The consensus also is that Chris Robshaw has been left to carry the can, especially after that controversial decision to kick for the corner instead of at goal, which could have ensured a draw with Wales. With the way other results panned out, that would have been enough for England to qualify.
“If they felt so strongly, why didn’t one of the coaches run on with the kicking tee? Why did Lancaster not say, ‘Kick for goal’? Everyone is miked up and they could have got a message onto the field in an instant. There are loads of medics, coaches and physios around the pitch. Coaches have to make those calls as much as Chris. I’ve lost count of the times at my club where the coach makes clear what should be done. One of the Saracens players said that Mark McCall would have been bellowing down from the stand at Allianz Park.”
KNOCK ON WOOD
With Robshaw in the firing line, the squad have rallied round. However, Tom Wood’s comments last week about his willingness to consider the England captaincy if asked have not gone down well with everyone, including one player who said: “How can he come out and say that? It shows real lack of respect for Chris, who is the captain and who already has had to deal with so much s***.
“You can’t have players saying they’d take his job. Wood has had so much to say for himself, yet he hasn’t backed it up on the pitch.”