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Fit again: Bryan Habana
South Africa and France moved up a gear last weekend. Neither side were perfect but both showed the combination of power and pace required to compete come a World Cup.
In six minutes against Scotland, the Springboks ripped through the home defence and revealed how important the return to fitness and the team of both Bryan Habana and Fourie Du Preez will be.
It is being cited as the defensive World Cup but Scotland - who defended well throughout - were shredded by the speed of the Springboks.
France were a combination of lumbering power and slickness. It remains hard to assess just how good they may be but the squad is in place and the rampant return to form of Serge Betsen is a massive boost.
If the hosts can maintain a greater pace to their attacking game for a longer period of time, they are on course to follow all host nations, bar Wales, in making the finals.
If they get there and find New Zealand waiting, the psychological batterings suffered at All Black hands and feet in Paris in the last few years could be the negative, but will the passion of the home crowd negate that? I wonder..
I wondered a few months ago whether France would slip up at the pool stage. Right now that looks unlikely as Ireland wilt without Brian O' Driscoll and Argentina rely on a below-par France to take advantage a week on Friday.
As for Italy's narrow loss in Ulster, it makes their match with a Scotland team, who impressed in many ways, an outstanding pool game which will probably be an effective knockout.
I don't know about you but I am counting down the days..to while away some time, let's look at this week's post...
UNDER THE POSTS - STUART ANSWERS YOUR EMAIL
Email Stuart Barnes
LINEOUT OF CONTROL
Stuart, Have you analysed the disaster that was the lineout against France? Not a single paper has even mentioned it. We lost four lineouts simply by giving away penalties! Surely this is down to the guy who has overall responsibility for controlling the lineout tactics - Steve Borthwick. Can you tell me how that guy has managed to win 30 caps? Chance after chance after chance. Probably more than Shaw, Palmer and Brown all put together! Alex Brown has been given 50 minutes against Australia, and a couple of games against South Africa when most of the England team were laid low by a debilitating bug. They say he isn't powerful but what about all those massive hits against Chabal that led to the guy limping off? Tony, Taunton.
STUART SAYS: Tony, Steve Borthwick has always been a popular figure with coaches; he has a great attitude which has impressed most who have coached him. Whether he has ever quite managed to match achievements on the field with his studied approach off it is another matter which does divide many. Certainly he has to shoulder a large portion of responsibility for the lineout in Marseille and I am sure that game has left Ben Kay in the clear as England's first choice middle jumper. As for Alex Brown, it is hard not to feel sorry for him and Tom Palmer but England beleived they needed two lineout organisers at five and that would explain Borthwick's vote ahead of them both. Had I been Brian Ashton, Tom Palmer would have been my option to Kay.
DEARTH MAUL
Hello Stuart, Having watched England's three warm-up games one question seems to stand out amid all of the negative unconstructive criticism; What has happened to England's use of the rolling maul? The entire rugby world seems to be obsessed with trying to copy NZ's use of the ruck to win games. But what lesser teams don't seem to have grasped is that no one in world rugby can do it quite as well as the All Blacks. They go wide time and time again with the aim of their forwards getting there before the other pack, win the ball and then get it to the other side of the pitch to do the same again. They do this relentlessly well, with the inevitable effect that holes start to appear, with the ensuing tries looking easy. It is NOT an easy game to perfect. Look at how much trouble England have in trying to do a watered down version! Part of the reason England hammered Wales (however poor Wales were) was that they used the rolling maul quite frequently. In the first France game the maul was often used and it led to dents being made in the French defence. That game could easily have been won by England. In the second game the maul hardly appeared at all. And England hardly ever crossed the game line with ball in hand. The sad fact is that England have been shown the benefits of what they used to be masters of in the last couple of years by South Africa and Ireland. They have created space against England by using precisely the tactics that brought England a World Cup, which they won without playing one decent game in the tournament! Brian Ashton must get this back into our game. If he doesn't then the backs will have no chance of expressing themselves. We have good enough players in the squad, we just need to get this sorted. Ask Martin Johnston what he thinks. This message has to get across somehow. How can I get a message to Brian Ashton? Thank you for your time Stuart. Tom Johnston, Carlisle.
STUART SAYS: Tom, I love the feverish passion of the mail but more important is the content. I do not believe your reasoning for the success against Wales stands up to rigorous scrutiny - Wales were awful - but the difference between the home and away games versus France were marked by an absence of mauls. A team stripped of the dynamism as this England squad is must find ways to slow games down, the faster England go, the less control is effected. Not sure the players are good enough to win a World Cup but the gist of the message is spot on and I would expect to see a mauling technique used against USA as a precursor to the South African match. Good stuff.
BRING BIAS TO THE BOX
Hi Stuart, Why oh why do we English have to sit through 80 minutes of English commentators telling us how absolutely fantastic the opposition is and how utterly awful our boys are - in every way? Every other nation are happy to congratulate their own boys and even wish them well - but not us. I know for a fact that EVERY guy I watch the games with shouts the same thing at the big screen, every game - do you do the same? In the last game our commentator said nothing when Jonny pulled off one of the best cover tackles I have ever seen to spill the ball and stop the French scoring in the corner ... nothing! The tackle on Vickery the week before must have been replayed 10 times with the commentators wetting themselves at how fantastic it was - this is a tiny example but it happens all the time in every international. Do you think you could lead the way maybe Stuart? Maybe you could praise our boys when they do well and leave it the opposition's commentators to do the same for their guys? At the very least could you just not say 'oh no' when we intercept a loose pass during a French attack to stop them scoring - who WAS that?! They all have their own commentators - and I'm sure they don't spend the game 'bigging up' our boys. Many thanks and kind regards, John Maxwell. PS - Don't worry, they still haven't come up with an England 10 that has your sidestep.
STUART SAYS: John, I am not one for the blindly patriotic commentary card. If Australia wish to wave a few flags from the commentary box when their sportsmen perform, good for them but I think broadcasters must be neutral in their observations. The problem is that a neutral commentator is often regarded as a negative one for the reasons you mentioned above. Sorry, we'll have to beg to differ on this one.
Thanks to you all for the interest,
regards
Stuart Barnes
