From The Sunday Times March 18, 2007 Stuart Banes says ~

England taught lesson in Cardiff defeat


A tough learning curve for Brian Ashton’s young World Cup pretenders.
These are the days that make international teams. When the 2003 World Cup was barely on the horizon, England were learning lessons, some of them bitter, in the Six Nations schooling ground. And what a ferocious schooling ground Cardiff was yesterday for Brian Ashton’s young charges.

At Twickenham against France last weekend the vast majority of this team displayed the potential to fuse into an outstanding side in Cardiff yesterday. Ashton waited to see if they had the technique, the will to win against a hostile crowd and a desperate opponent.

England knew exactly what they needed to do from the kick-off. They were not to move the ball laterally from the deep if it was slow, because Wales were not to be allowed easy territory. The best-laid plans of mice and men. Instead of playing deep in the Welsh half, England were remorselessly driven onto the back foot from the kick-off to the extent that after 15 minutes Wales, inspired by the passion of their crowd and the poise of their half-backs, were rattling the scoreboard at a point a minute.

If this young England side did not understand the essence of international hostility before, they did after that harrowing 15 minutes. After just one minute the men in white were aware just how difficult life was going to be in Wales, which was more than can be said for Joe Worsley, who was unaware which planet he inhabited. His early collision with Jason Robinson left him punch-drunk as Shane Williams sizzled up the right flank and from the attacking position James Hook was to make his first incisive contribution.

A palpably nervous Toby Flood had his kick charged down by the Welsh youngster and Cardiff erupted as the try was scored after 60 seconds, the stuff of dreams for Hook but for England the worst possible nightmare.

It got worse. England’s defence was porous as Wales poured on the pressure until an almost inevitable second try on that quarter-hour mark.

The stadium was cacophonous, it sounded like the whole population of the principality was behind their team and on the backs of an England team that had a haunted, callow look.

There was no greater contrast between the sides than the contrast between the fly-halves: Flood, admittedly not being served by the quickest pass from Harry Ellis, who was having a troubled game, compared to Hook, who was on the receiving end of a sublime service from Dwayne Peel and looked every inch the star of the centre stage.

Hook tormented England with his passing game and his exquisite tactical kicking, keeping the English babes pinned in their 22. As lessons go, this seemed one of the most painful variety.

The shadow of a hammering was gathering in the artificial stadium lights until the old man and captain, Mike Catt, offered up the first hint of a team starting to understand how to play Test-match rugby when the odds are against you. That first lesson is one that has been forgotten since England won the World Cup. It is to have the courage to play positively, to play your way out of the doldrums.

Like last weekend, it had been a mixed bag from Catt but like last weekend the bravery to keep playing served England well as his flashing break combined with a fortunate bounce to allow Ellis the try and England a foothold when it appeared they were tumbling downwards. A typical Ellis break down the middle with a typical finish by Jason Robinson enabled England to leave the scene of an eminently forgettable 40 minutes from their perspective only 18-15 down.

The travails of Test-match rugby continued early in the second half. England levelled the score but old man Catt departed injured and the English back-line were left without their sage organiser. Defensive lessons were being learned on the hoof as Shane Williams and Kevin Morgan were perpetually on the brink of evading that last tackle. But England, still looking perplexed, held on by their finger-nails.

The great England team of the Woodward era had the ability to fight back from poor performances by tightening up their game. This team, so young in body and mind, lacked the option. As the game entered the last quarter, you sensed England’s only way to stem the tide was to pick up the pace. When the side has more maturity, it will be able to go down through the gears. In the Cardiff cauldron Wales held the game, even as the scoreline was level, in their hands unless England could press the accelerator and unleash their fliers, Shane Geraghty and Mathew Tait.

One of the prime lessons that England will take from this match is the necessity to be stronger in the breakdown. England were playing with will but Wales were desperate, and desperation drove them on.

Desperation in tandem with that man Hook. The fly-half rekindled memories of the great Welsh fly-halves of yesteryear. On 68 minutes, he snapped another drop goal over to push the Welsh advantage to six and from the restart his scything 40m break had the nation singing Bread of Heaven, as it did in the days when Phil Bennett tormented England year after year.
Hook was not just teaching England a lesson but was reminding the watching rugby world that another golden talent has been unearthed from the Welsh fly-half factory.

Why Gareth Jenkins did not start him in the last two internationals is quite some mark against the Welsh coach because he galvanised this team in tandem with his Ospreys’ colleague, Ryan Jones, who persistently won the battle of the gain-line against the young England back-row, who struggled to contain Wales around the fringes.

Wide ambition remains central to England’s development but it’s attention to detail at those fringes might just be the biggest lesson to learn from Cardiff. Oh, and the importance of not handing the initiative from the very first whistle. The minuses probably outweighed the positives but this was not the performance to break a fledgling team.

So much for the lessons will learn for the future but let us finish on the present and that young man Hook. If anyone doubted his glittering ability, they will doubt no longer. Flood and Geraghty remain prospects for the future but yesterday was about England being caught and hung out to dry by a fly-half who had them, once again, singing in the Valleys.