#360Rugby: England’s lack of leadership, welcome back South Africa

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  • Can England qualify from the Group of Death?

    The Rugby World Cup is in full flow and this week #360Rugby takes in England’s lack of leadership, the superlative Alun Wyn Jones and an ominous return to form for the Springboks.

    England suffering from a lack of leadership
    England backs coach Andy Farrell noted this week that the team are now in ‘fight mode’ and the hosts’ problems can be traced to a lack of leadership.

    Coach Stuart Lancaster must take some of the blame for the shock loss to Wales, with poor squad selection in midfield a key factor behind the result. But Chris Robshaw’s decision making in the heat of battle has once again come up short as England turned down the chance to draw this crucial match.

    Against Ireland in the Six Nations England failed to come up with a response to Conor Murray’s kicking game and it is this failure to adapt during the game that could see England come unstuck against one of the world’s most tactically astute teams in Australia.

    The loss of Billy Vunipola to injury will have a detrimental effect to England’s attack but there is a silver lining. In Nick Easter England will gain a veteran back row and his extra leadership experience could be vital in easing the burden on Robshaw’s shoulders in their Pool A showdown.

    Welcome back South Africa
    England must take inspiration from the Springboks, who answered their critics after losing to Japan in emphatic style with a 46-6 crushing of Samoa.

    The only dampener on the South Africa’s afternoon was the injury and subsequent retirement of captain Jean de Villiers. The blonde-haired centre’s untimely injury made all the worse given his inspirational story to regain fitness in time for the World Cup.

    It must be said that de Villiers was not in the best form of his illustrious career but his very presence and leadership will be what Heyneke Meyer misses the most.

    However, in Victor Madfield, Fourie du Preez and Bismarck du Plessis the Boks have plenty of other leaders to guide the team.

    Meyer was always going to stick with his man through thick and thin but JdV’s absence, may now reunite South Africa’s most potent centre combination of Damian de Allende and Jesse Kriel.

    Alun Wyn Jones the best in the business

    Injury-depleted Wales submitted a Herculean team effort to overcome England and one player who encapsulated their spirit on the evening in his individual performance was Alun Wyn Jones.

    The Ospreys second-row was exemplary in his work rate and seemed to hit every ruck, consistently slowing England’s attack down if not forcing a turnover.

    The British and Irish Lion showed no signs of being hampered by his troublesome knee injury and used all of his 91-cap experience to re-group his players in the face of an early English onslaught and an injury crisis.

    Imperious at the line-out and constantly in the ear of referee Jerome Garces without pestering him, the Welsh captain made his presence known for 80 minutes.

     Warren Gatland will be relying heavily on Jones to fire-up a fatigued side for a crunch match against Fiji – the team responsible for Wales’ exit from the 2007 World Cup.

    Scotland no push-over
    It took a half-time dressing down from Vern Cotter to get Scotland going but they simply blew the USA away in the second-half with five tries to secure a bonus-point victory.

    With two wins under their belt the Dark Blues have one foot on a potential World Cup quarter-finals with a next match against South Africa likely to determine who wins the group.

    The Africans’ thrashing of Samoa will see them start the match as favourites but they will have to be at their very best to repel a Scotland side that have transformed into an efficient attacking unit under their New Zealand coach.

    The Scots will be sweating over the fitness of fly-half Finn Russell as the Glasgow playmaker looked back to his creative best before an ankle injury forced him from the field.

    This is the supporters’ Rugby World Cup 

    As the total match attendance figure nears the one million mark, it is important to note how brilliant the crowds have been at England and Wales 2015.

    A World Cup record attendance of 89,267 piled in to Wembley Stadium to watch Ireland’s second team dispatch Romania, surpassing the previous weekend’s record breaking Rugby World Cup crowd of 89,019.

    With Ireland’s bid for the 2023 World Cup gathering momentum, the sheer numbers and joy the green-clad fans bring to the tournament is enough to make World Rugby sit up and take notice.

    However it is not just the top teams that are attracting the attention. Playing in front of packed stadia, teams including USA, Georgia, Japan and Namibia have received strong support with Romania playing in front of 140,000 fans across just two pool matches.

    Almost equally impressive are the numbers of supporters without tickets who are traveling to fan zones to soak up the atmosphere with 378,000 visitors to date passing through the doors.

    Extra time

    If the first round was all about up-and-unders, the second round was all about off-loads. The ‘Sonny Bill’, if executed correctly, is an effective method of drawing several defenders in and releasing an on-running runner.

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