Will Greenwood says England are giving away too many daft penalties
Tuesday 1 March 2016 17:07, UK
England are now two matches away from claiming their first Six Nations Grand Slam title in 13 years after a 21-10 win against Ireland at Twickenham on Saturday.
England's next challenge is against Wales in what is being billed as the Championship decider as well as their chance to avenge their 25-28 loss to Wales in the 2015 World Cup.
That loss, along with defeat at the hands of Australia, saw England knocked out of the competition as they became the first host nation in World Cup history not to progress through to the knockout stages.
Stuart Lancaster lost his job in the fall-out to the World Cup and was replaced by Australian Eddie Jones, who became the first non-Englishman to coach the Red Rose.
The 56-year-old has kept faith with the majority of the squad inherited from Lancaster, and there is a huge sense of optimism within the England camp following wins over Scotland, Italy and Ireland.
There were plenty of positives from that win against Ireland, including the performances of Billy Vunipola, George Kruis and Maro Itoje.
However, Jones' side conceded 12 penalties including two yellow cards for James Haskell and Danny Care and Will Greenwood says England need to get the balance right.
"England have tried to find that bite, find that edge," said Greenwood on the Rugby Club Wrap-Up.
"By winning the games they have shown they have reacted to the referee and adapted their game. Let's not forget that they went behind against Ireland - 10 points to six.
"You can argue until the cows come home if Haskell's shot was a yellow card. But it is inviting trouble if you dump someone, slightly late with no arms and stay on your feet. Referees are going to give it so why risk it?
"The Danny Care yellow is an interesting one - Lawrence Dallaglio would say it was a great yellow, a team yellow. Take one for the team where you don't want to concede seven points.
"I still think England are giving away the odd daft penalty, but they are competitive scrapping, in your face, they are a horrible side to play against. The question is can you have one with the other - super tricky when you are developing."
Lucky Brown?
Many feel that England full-back Mike Brown was fortunate not to have seen yellow after his fly-hack on a ball at the ruck made contact with Conor Murray's head.
Ireland's scrum-half required stitches above his eye and the Six Nations organisers have announced that Brown will not be cited for the incident, but Greenwood claimed he would have had no complaints if Brown was yellow carded at the time.
"Conor Murray is tackled and has placed the ball back - it's there waiting to be kicked," explained Greenwood.
"We often applaud Joe Launchbury and Courtney Lawes for getting their size 13 boots through. If you are allowed to play the ball in the ruck with your feet then by definition what Mike Brown has done is at worse clumsy.
"When someone gets cut and stitches then you notice it a little bit more. It's like a punch if you swing and connect then it's 12 weeks, but if you swing and miss then it's 'he's being a bit of a naughty boy'.
"Mike Brown attracts referees attention with his style of play. Eddie Jones will not want to temper him or take his edge away but will ask him to consider going in and throwing feet around like that.
"Had he received a yellow I think there would have been very few people saying it was harsh."
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