Stuart Barnes: Ten talking points from the World Cup warm-ups
Monday 7 September 2015 16:20, UK
Sky Sports' Stuart Barnes casts his eye over the weekend's World Cup warm-ups and lists his top 10 talking points, including praise for Japan and Nigel Owens, along with a warning for England fans...
1. English, Australian and Welsh fans, cross your fingers and hope that Rhys Webb and Leigh Halfpenny's injuries are not as bad as both appeared Saturday afternoon. The loss of one of them, let alone the pair, would be a hammer blow for Welsh hopes.
But that's not half the story. Nobody wants to see any player's dream turned into a nightmare, especially with the event so close to its commencement. Wales might well be badly hurt but they have to get on with preparations.
Could this be a reprieve for Mike Phillips? How soon before Liam Williams is fit to play? There are big questions and huge sympathy in the direction of Wales.
2. Don't get too carried away with England's improved performance against Ireland on Saturday. The Six Nations champions were a shadow of their former selves.
A more convincing scoreline would not have gone amiss but still, how exciting is it to see an England team with such verve out wide? The scrums were a worry though.
3. Ignore those lies, lies and damned statistics. England's line-out record showed an immaculate 14 wins from 14 throws. I reckon half of them were pieces of possession the England scrum-halves would rather not have received.
Tom Youngs did not prove himself a safe option once again and while it won't happen, I really wonder whether England should consider gambling on Jamie George to start and bring the Tiger roaring off the bench. The twice-capped Saracen looks the part.
4. If you are English, with a hint of the cavalier, get carried away and ignore point three. When was the last time England had a pair of wingers so exciting to behold?
Throw in the more industrious excellence of Mike Brown and England has a back three of which it need no longer feel ashamed.
When was the last time England had a pair of wingers so exciting to behold?
5. If you are Irish do not despair. In Joe you should trust. Flat as the proverbial pancake Ireland may have been, but with nearly five weeks until the game with France, bank on that shrewd manager to have your team peaking when most it matters.
This was a game England wanted much more than Ireland. Given that, Ireland will probably have headed home not too distraught with an eight-point margin of defeat.
6. Praises for Nigel Owens; the sport is becoming riddled with officials who are scared to back their own judgement.
It's getting a little like cricket in the infancy days of the third umpire when nearly everything was referred 'upstairs'. By the way, in rugby it is never 'upstairs'. We commentators really should get used to saying, 'Let us go outside' where the TMOs are snug as bugs in their little rooms.
Anyway, Owens... yes, the Paul O'Connell touchdown. It was a brilliant piece of positional refereeing, one knee on the ground, no camera could be better positioned. TRY.
Referees, don't waste time and destroy the flow of a game, back yourselves like Owens.
7. Another reason not to despair if you are Irish. France possess forward power and quite a line-out but they did not impress against Scotland.
England were awful in Paris but people were queuing to jump on the French World Cup history bandwagon. That wagon can trundle past me at its own sweet pedestrian pace. I am not interested in that journey.
The manager has failed to prove himself in four years and the fly-half is never going to manage a sequence of consistent performances. I am sticking with Ireland to beat France and (maybe more nervously) Italy to scare them on the first weekend.
8. Don't be too content with the narrow margin of defeat if you come from north of the Border. France are not very good and Scotland lost, narrowly yes but do look closely at the Scottish record of late.
They could do with more than the odd win; losing has become too ingrained in the DNA. That Samoa match makes me nervous on behalf of my Scottish friends.
9. It seems that if you are to keep an eye on an outsider team, Japan might be that team. Having put South America's second strongest team to the sword last weekend in Japan, they travelled to Gloucester and got the better of those Georgian giants by the narrow margin of 13-10.
Any team coached by that crafty so and so, Eddie Jones, needs to be respected. Japan face Scotland at Gloucester on the first Wednesday of the tournament and will feel at home in front of a crowd who, if I know my dear Shed Head chums will side solidly with... err, not Scotland.
Japan play in cherry and white after all...
10. Celebrate the Indian summer that arrived (at least in south-west London) on Sunday. Or should that be a Fijian summer?
Canada at full strength have not been able to beat Fiji this season and a weakened side had no chance. Plenty of courage as you would expect and a little shape; they worked a few short side openings and may have given watching England coach Stuart Lancaster a few ideas ahead of the opening game.
DTH van der Merwe poached two tries for the North Americans. He can finish. A member of the Canadian squad informed me he decided to leave Glasgow for the Scarlets of Llanelli to seek some British sunshine!
I like to think this man as indulging in some malicious humour at the winger's expense. I don't believe you believe that DTH...
As for Fiji, they showed smatterings of their traditional freewheeling style with our Glasgow friends Niko Matawalu – now of Bath – in splendid form until an over-exuberant dive saw him hobble off; not a worry was the medical prognosis.
Leone Nakawara was his usual wonderful off-loading self while Crusaders superstar Nemani Nadolo kicked his goals and enjoyed the sun.
They won't beat England if the host nation play like they did for the first 20 minutes against Ireland. If they play as they did in Paris, a week Friday could be fright night for England fans.
Fiji are better organised than I have seen them, maybe ever, and the old magic is still there. Whatever happens on the scoreboard, there will be fireworks on September 18, above and beyond the opening ceremony.
I'll finish where I started. Tony, from London Welsh, nice meeting you Sunday. I am still hoping for miracles for Webb and Halfpenny, we all should be. Until next week, folks.
