Losing ugly

Autumn blues

There has been a lot of negative press about the autumn international for England, but overall, it probably isn't as bad as everyone says. Yes, there were some disappointing results, but these were against the best two teams in the world. And even with these results, the team were probably not performing at their best - largely due to a misfiring 10, 12 channel, which was swiftly rectified with George Ford entering the fray, and Twelvetrees returning to the inside centre role. But the most important news is that, even when slightly off colour, the team almost managed to scrape out a win - they are only four points of improvement away from that most valuable of skill...winning ugly. For the moment, we'll just have to be satisfied with (just) losing ugly - but it shoes that with a few senior players returning and a bit more movement along the learning curve and this England team can really be something special. How long this takes is a different question - Clive Woodward took two attempts at the World Cup to develop the hard edge necessary to win the world cup. Plus, New Zealand are probably still within their 8 year winning cycle (as seen by international teams such as France and Spain in football) - so on balance of probabilities, its likely that we'll have to wait until 2019 for an England world cup win, which is why the RFU's decision to offer long-term contracts to the coaching team was such a good one. That's not to say we shouldn't hope for an England world cup win next year (it's certainly possible), but we should also be realistic and not overreact if there isn't the win that everyone is hoping for...

Tackle technique

The modern game has changed tackling technique from when I was younger. The idea of keeping your head out of the way to protect it from damage has been jettisoned with the need to stop the opposition at all costs. But perhaps this will change with the concussion rules, which are being admirably used (the only concern is what it has been like for the last 10 years or so). More and more players are being lost from games and kept out of matches to protect them from concussion damage - so coaches may start telling players to be more careful in the tackle in order to keep them in games for longer. I hope this will be the case - because looking after players' mental health really is more important than winning games.