JEREMY GUSCOTT
OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE... EVERY WEEK
ONE of the hardest aspects of sport is to get grounded again to repeat what you have done – and the last two rounds of this Six Nations will hopefully have taught England that it is what sets teams that become multiple winners apart from the rest.
You have to put that great win behind you, and get on with the next win. England created a great buzz with their win over Ireland, but it is about how you ground yourself and keep embracing the challenges that keep coming at Test level. That is because England reset the dial against the Irish, and now there is massive anticipation from their fans.
A big stat that stood out for me from last weekend’s win at Twickenham – and that will be crucial in New Zealand this summer – is that England had double the ‘metres made’ that Ireland did. That’s huge, because retaining ball and making metres is what the Irish game is based on.
We are very quick to praise, and criticise, in England, so while that was a great performance, it has to be backed up. England simply did not give Ireland very much oxygen to play their game, although with what they had they played pretty well.
England only took about 50 per cent of their own opportunities, and that is why they still have to back themselves more when they are in prime attacking positions. You simply cannot afford to kick attacking ball away when you are in and around the opposing 22. Keep it alive by whatever means – and a case in point is that they did exactly that in the lead up to Marcus Smith’s winning drop goal.
Immanuel Feyi-Waboso had a key role in the move that set up the drop goal, even though he had only one play. It was about the way in which he attacked the ball, staying in-field and threatening the Irish defence. With New Zealand or South
Africa you would say that what Feyi-Waboso did is standard, but in harsh terms the England backs have been bottling running such hard lines recently.
What is impressive is that Feyi-Waboso was playing for Taunton Titans 18 months ago, but the young wing’s twang and spring when he gets the ball is so powerful that he wins collisions because of it. You have to time tackles on a player like Feyi-Waboso perfectly, or he will shake you off.
On the other wing I would love to see Tommy Freeman carrying more ball. He’s done the simple things well throughout this campaign, and the impact when he flattened Irish wing Calvin Nash after receiving a man-and-ball pass was resounding.
Freeman has been positive in all his ball carries, and as a rookie he has excelled – and given more chances I believe he would have had much more impact.
Being able to talk so positively about the England wings is a huge plus, and the c
