Stuart Lancaster’s England burning for Six Nations revenge in Cardiff
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Version 0 of 1. Saturday 16 March 2013, the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff – a time and a place that England’s management team will never forget. A first grand slam in 10 years beckoned, along with the Six Nations title, but Wales so gorged themselves on heaven’s bread that their opponents were denied even crumbs. A day that promised much ended in a record 30-3 defeat by the men in red, who were crowned champions. “It was a significant learning experience for me and the team,” said the England forwards’ coach, Graham Rowntree, before England’s return to the Welsh capital a week on Friday for the start of the 2015 Six Nations. “There was an incredible atmosphere that night, the like of which I had never experienced before, and I had been down there a few times as a player and a coach. It was a chastening time. We did not see it coming and we learned a lot from that game and we have come a long way in terms of composure. “You have to experience an atmosphere like that, live through it, play through it and learn from it. It defines you as a player.” While Rowntree had been to the Millennium Stadium before – he was part of England’s management team when they started the 2011 tournament with a win in Cardiff on a Friday night – it was the head coach Stuart Lancaster’s first time there. What had been an upward curve since he had taken over after a ruinous World Cup campaign took a sudden, steep dip downward. “It was an incredible atmosphere,” said Lancaster. “A number of the players who were involved then will be again and, while there will be some, like Anthony Watson and George Ford, who have not experienced the Millennium Stadium, I think we will be better prepared this time round. “Also, the context was different two years ago: we went into the game having played on the Sunday and we did not train, really, just patched up bodies. At the back of our minds we knew that we could lose and still win the title and I think that had a psychological effect on the players. This time it is the start of the tournament, not the end, but there is no doubt that the atmosphere will be the same, if not even more intense.” England achieved a measure of revenge over Wales at Twickenham last year with a 29-18 win, but with the two sides meeting in the World Cup at the same venue in the autumn, one of the Six Nations’ historically spicy fixtures will have even more flavour. “I would not say it holds no fears,” said Rowntree, “but as I remember from my playing days, you have to use what happened before as a motivator. You know what is coming, so meet the challenge. We speak to the guys about making decisions under extreme duress and it does not get any harder than Cardiff. We will have them ready.” While the Wales head coach, Warren Gatland, said in the autumn that getting out of a World Cup group that includes England and Australia was his priority, Lancaster is not looking beyond his fourth Six Nations. England have been the runners-up in each of his campaigns, losing to Wales in 2012 and 2013 and Ireland a year ago. “The goal is to win it, without a doubt,” said Lancaster. “The Six Nations has been hugely frustrating, particularly last year when we played some great rugby but lost the first game and scored 50 points in Italy on the final weekend, which not many teams have done, only for Ireland to win the title ahead of us with the final play of the game in Paris. It still burns inside the players. “I think the Six Nations this time is probably the most competitive: you probably say that every year but Wales have just beaten South Africa, Ireland have defeated Australia and South Africa, France beat Australia and Scotland have improved significantly. What has happened in the past and what might happen in the future is irrelevant. On the day two years ago in Cardiff we weren’t good enough. On the day last year at Twickenham we were.” England go into camp with the coaches still undecided on a number of positions. Luther Burrell and Brad Barritt are a midfield pairing capable of standing up to Wales’s physicality but the more sprightly Kyle Eastmond and Jonathan Joseph have been ripping defences to tatters at club level with Bath. Will Dylan Hartley retain their trust after another ban? Who will start at loosehead? Will James Haskell force his way into the back row? And what style will England adopt? “Wales have a 14-man defensive line a lot of the time and it is very effective,” said Lancaster. “Jamie Roberts and Jonathan Davies will try to dominate the gainline and Wales’s game will centre around dominating it. As a consequence you have got to be able to defend the gainline and you have got to be able to get across it yourself. “Sometimes when you are playing against big defensive sides you can’t play around them because they have width so you have to play through them. Bath played exceptionally well to win in Toulouse this month and Jonathan Joseph is playing consistently well, but they were not up against a defence like Wales’s. “In terms of style we have to make sure we can pick out the right tool from the box at the right time. When New Zealand played Wales in the autumn they won by kicking the ball but against us in the rain, they kept the ball tight, picking and driving. In the summer in Hamilton they ran us off our feet. “Your style has to suit the weather and the conditions and in our first two games in November decision-making was not good enough. You also have to play to your strengths: we had good scrummagers and maulers in our pack rather than footballers and in the final game against Australia we put them under pressure up front.” Rowntree is fed up with being asked questions about England’s scrum in Cardiff two years ago when the referee Steve Walsh kept penalising the visitors, costing them position and points. A Frenchman, Jérôme Garcès, will be in charge next week; a student of his compatriot Romain Poite, he will have a low tolerance threshold for props who do not bind properly or stay square. “We have looked at the decisions last time and we cannot give the referee those pictures again,” said Rowntree. “We have got to be squeaky clean and very proactive. I am delighted Jérôme Garcès is in charge as he is a very good referee at the scrum. We have a decision to make at loose-head prop where Joe Marler, Alex Corbisiero and Mako Vunipola are all contenders. There could be some tasty training sessions and we can then work out the pecking order. “As for Dylan, Gatland called him out before the game four years ago but he got on with his job in a composed manner. A lot has been said about him, but I know what he brings to the group in terms of leadership and energy and his set-piece is immaculate. No one has said anything about a last chance for him: it is just a good headline. His England future is not in jeopardy, he has a lot of credit in the bank and we will help him deal with opponents goading him. He will not be cast aside.” Hartley was involved in another incident on Saturday, sent to the sin-bin early in Northampton’s defeat to Racing Métro. Discipline is a subject Lancaster will dwell on in the next two weeks. “Wales built the scoreboard through penalties two years ago and Leigh Halfpenny has a high conversion rate,” he said. “I will be pointing that out to Dylan. His yellow card against South Africa hurt the team and that will be part of the conversation I have with him. Some of our forward statistics in the autumn were world class and Dylan played a key part in that. He has to find his tipping point and control it.” |