Team RBS
Danny Cipriani
Danny Cipriani
'There needs to be more structure to England's game'
10 March 2008, 5:22 pm
By Jason Leonard
The England performance against France was either because of England being so good or France being so bad. Sadly that performance against Scotland at the weekend proved it was the latter.
It was tough on the players because of the conditions but these are experienced international players. They lost Danny Cipriani through ill-discipline before the game was played, but not one of the England players really put their hand up and played well and that's a problem we've seen far too much of in recent times. We don't know how much a distraction the Cipriani episode was - only the players can make that assessment.

We did everything that an England side didn't want to do to against a Scottish side, which was to get involved in a scrap. We performed and executed our moves poorly, kicked badly, gave away lots of penalties and our discipline let us down.

At the end of it Scotland were worthy winners. They played with more guile than England. Their defence was fantastic. Their kicking - while not particularly great - was marginally better than England's, but it was their tenacity that set them apart. They played with a fire in their belly which sadly England couldn't match.

It was very hard in those conditions to make a difference, and perhaps that was just one of those games, but they've got to make sure that doesn't happen this coming Saturday against Ireland. Ireland should be coming to Twickenham fearing a performance in front of a home crowd. After analysing that performance against Scotland I don't think Ireland would be quaking in their boots.

Can England turn it around? Yes they can, but we will have to see such a reversal of game management to even have them stand a chance against an Irish team who over the last couple of years have had great success at Twickenham.

There needs to be more structure to England's game and, if they can achieve that, a win against Ireland is possible. It would salvage some pride although they will look at the RBS 6 Nations at this time and say they are disappointed with their performances so far and feel that they should have this last game possibly as a championship decider.

Every player will be in no doubt that if they don't play well on Saturday, Brian Ashton will make wholesale changes and that might be the end of a few England careers.

Team Statistics onlyinclude Five & Six Nations games from 1992 to the present day
Player Statistics onlyinclude Five & Six Nations appearances since 1992
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