Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

How 'the best defensive 13 England have ever had' would fix their issues

England's George Ford and Henry Slade/ PA

While it was England’s attack, or lack thereof in the final quarter, that came under scrutiny following their loss to the All Blacks, it is the turn of the defence to be picked apart this week, as Australia did with consummate ease in their victory at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium.

ADVERTISEMENT

Where Steve Borthwick and Joe El-Abd begin trying to fix an ailing defence that conceded 42 points at home is anyone’s guess. Presumably, it will start with England’s defensive weakness around the breakdown, but they were not much more secure around the fringes once the Wallabies spread the ball wide with some slick handling.

Maybe they will try to address the England players’ actual tackling capabilities. Regardless of what defensive system is used, 36 missed tackles will seldom win a side a Test match. The blitz defence may not help with those figures, but the way Australia’s Tom Wright and Angus Bell (yes, their loosehead) were able to jink through England’s defence should have deeply concerned Borthwick.

Video Spacer

The 20-min red card explained by referee Karl Dickson

Referee Karl Dickson explains the 20-min red card system that is in place during the Autumn Nations Series.

Video Spacer

The 20-min red card explained by referee Karl Dickson

Referee Karl Dickson explains the 20-min red card system that is in place during the Autumn Nations Series.

Possibly it is when and where the blitz defence is deployed that will be worked on this week having conceded a match-winning try at the death from 40 metres out.

That is a lot to address and very little time to do it with the double world champions and number one ranked side in the world South Africa coming to London on Saturday.

Fixture
Internationals
England
20 - 29
Full-time
South Africa
All Stats and Data

England internationals Ben Youngs and Anthony Watson went over England’s blitz defence on the For the Love of Rugby podcast in the wake of the loss and how it can be fixed.

Watson urged England to increase their number of dominant tackles if they wish for the blitz defence to work, which would slow down the opposition’s speed of ball.

ADVERTISEMENT

Quoting former England centre Jonathan Joseph, who Watson described as “the best defensive 13 England have ever had,” the Leicester Tigers winger said England must have a “bail-out” in defence rather than persistently adopting the blitz.

“My concern is around the blitz and the areas that they were blitzing from,” Watson said.

“Once Australia got go-forward in and around the ruck and they were constantly getting on the front foot, it becomes very hard because as a blitz defence you’re constantly coming up and back-tracking. If you’ve got speed of ball like Australia did in and around the ruck it becomes very hard to be set, to have the right numbers, to be connected with your numbers inside and outside, and that’s where holes appear or you feel vulnerable on the edge.

“So I think if that area was shored up a little bit, getting a few more dominant tackles, getting on the front foot in defence, I think it allows the blitz to work pretty successfully.

“I was talking with Jonathan Joseph, who is, in my opinion, the best defensive 13 England have ever had, and he was suggesting that there needs to be some form of bail-out. England need something when their numbers are down just to be able to connect. Not get out of the blitz defence but just and insurance blanket.

ADVERTISEMENT

“In a few of those situations, I think that would have saved a try. Look at the first one, for example, if [George] Furbank doesn’t come up and in in a sort of blitzish style defence, I think [Ollie] Sleightholme gets to [Joseph] Suaalii and Furbank gets to Tom Wright in the corner.

“I think there are definitely scenarios where the blitz looks susceptible and it looks weak. Some of that gets solved by having better defence in and around the ruck, getting better connectedness and being set. I don’t think they should go away from it just yet. It is aggressive, it does look like it’s do-or-die, but I think it will be more successful when England are more dominant in their tackles up front, they’re set around the ruck.”

Youngs’ concern was when the blitz is deployed, citing the last play of the game when Australia were chasing the game as a time not to be so aggressive as it ultimately cost England.

This is clearly a time of transition for England in terms of their defensive strategy. Former defence coach Felix Jones frequently reiterated that it would take up to 18 months for England to be completely au fait with the system. His exit, and then the appointment of El-Abd, may have not only delayed that process, but may have muddied the waters and left plenty of confusion. That appears to be the case thus far this November.

Related

Louis Rees-Zammit joins Jim Hamilton for the latest episode of Walk the Talk to discuss his move to the NFL. Watch now on RugbyPass TV

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

7 Comments
A
AA 9 days ago

Blitz defence or whatever you want is pointless when the coach takes off the 2 men who are giving the go forward .

Last week missed tackle,/ kicks . This week a very poor pass when not under pressure that gave 7 points away .

It ruins momentum .

Both games England have been on top, right up to the coach altering the team and the players coming on were far too off the pace when the heat of battle was intense.

When will Borthwick learn to leave the 9 and 10 on the pitch the full 80 mins .


T
Tom 9 days ago

Playing 9 requires a very high level of physical exertion. Replacing the 9 is a reasonable thing to do.

T
Tom 9 days ago

England's defence was becoming excellent under Felix Jones, it's not the players who are the issue. They've proven they're capable of performing defensively. It looks like there are mixed messages, we've got players flying up while others stay back creating doglegs. There is a lack of cohesion in the defensive system, changing the players isn't going to fix that. JJ was a great defended though.

A
Alex 9 days ago

England could pick from a number of bigger players to make the dominant tackle, but then you sacrifice ball-playing skills. We don't have a Jess Kriel or Bundee Aki type, or Tuilagi anymore. Therefore, does it make sense to alter things and ditch it? To me that feels the better approach. I thought the backroom staff disruption would have an effect but this has been quite a major one. Personally I always respected the quick press, pillar/post quick set and phase out, drift, repeat. It's old school but reliable. The 'press' part allows for dominant tackles to happen, though not as often. I always say look at how Scotland defends. It's abrasive and well-organised, and doesn't end up having tons if dog legs either.


Would like them to attempt to rectify it, but not hold onto it so religiously if we're getting torn to shreds still, which is what Australia did to us.

B
Bull Shark 9 days ago

I'm certainly not the best defensive 13 England has ever had - but I think the best way for England to fix their defense is to change their coaches.


Or at least ask Felix Jones to "come in to the office". Coaching remotely doesn't appear to be working.

Load More Comments

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

286 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING Tupou Vaa'i gives first impression of 'big unit' Fabian Holland Tupou Vaa'i on 'big unit' Fabian Holland
Search