England are not for turning. The team will not chop and change their gameplan for their trip to France despite the criticism levelled at them after suffering three Six Nations losses in a row, including that first defeat to Italy.
The team are in Verona this week regrouping after brutal defeats to Scotland, Ireland and Italy. This was meant to be a campaign where England headed into the final round in Paris against France challenging for the title, but instead they’re looking to avoid the ignominy of the wooden spoon. If England lose on Saturday, then it’ll confirm this as their worst ever Six Nations.
Their gameplan for the Italy match, one which was based on contestable kicking, has come in for criticism. Matt Dawson, the England World Cup-winning scrum-half, wrote in his BBC column: “England are never in a million years going to Paris and beating France by deploying the same kick-heavy strategy. If they do, that is a red flag against England’s coaching ticket.
“There is nothing to lose in Paris, so let them play. Everyone on the planet thinks they are going to lose.”
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England’s kicking stats put them number one in the championship for the most kicks, and kicking for the most metres. Though it has worked in the past, a key component of their impressive 12-match winning run, teams have cracked England’s gameplan, with Scotland, Ireland and Italy all nullifying it.
But despite their drop in form, expect to see more of the same contestable kicking when England run out this weekend.
“Our plan has stayed the same or we haven’t changed our plan too much game to game,” England scrum-half Ben Spencer told reporters in Verona. “We’ve seen results from it so I don’t think we need to change too much.
“We all believe in the plan. We haven’t gone too far away from what we did when we had 12 wins on-the-spin.
“There are loads of ways you can go about it, but if you look at the two defeats we had previous to Italy, both Ireland and Scotland kicked more than us. It is just how you go about it, how you implement it, it is your accuracy.
“There are loads of things that can influence that.
“As players, we’re fully aligned with the coaches in terms of the way we want to move forward and where we want to go with the gameplan. And then on Saturday night, it’s up to us to implement that gameplan and execute it as best as we can.”
Winger Tom Roebuck defended their tactics, saying Lee Blackett — the attack coach — is having an impact.
“When we’re at our best we can go and beat teams,” Roebuck said.
“We just want to make sure we stick to it, bring the best version to it. I would not say we’re too embedded with it but the way Lee has brought the attack in, we’re looking for opportunities and making line breaks, which is also just as effective. It is not a one-sided mentality.
“We’re definitely a team that wants to attack and play fast.”
