1
‘This is the best England side we've ever had, isn’t it?’
By Sam Roberts
This is the best England side we’ve ever had, isn’t it? I mean forget 2003, or Grand Slam victors, forget that silver medal team of 2019 that ousted the All Blacks so succinctly, this is it: this is the team that we should always remember.
ADVERTISEMENT
Why? Well, let me tell you.
Steve Borthwick, their head coach, along with assistants Kevin Sinfield and Richard Wigglesworth, have had very little time to do anything. They started this year, at the end of a World Cup cycle, with a side that wasn’t functioning very well, and have quickly created miracles. Sure, it hasn’t been plain sailing and maybe not everyone was on board with the way things were being achieved, but that doesn’t matter.
England are the only undefeated team left in the World Cup. Everyone else has been beaten. Yeah, the draw etc, but England have already beaten one of the other four semi-finalists, comfortably. The coaching team have done brilliantly, on borrowed time and with pretty limited resources. They didn’t have the time to blood new players and rely on some of the talent that exists in the Premiership.
They’ve done it with a group of players who are, let’s face it, a little past their prime. This coaching set-up has stood by all these players, stuck to their guns and they are one win away from the final. That is an extraordinary achievement. Far better than winning it with a group of really great players.
Players haven’t really known who was being picked when, and even where. We can all name the French, Ireland, Springbok and All Black best XV. Can we with England? Not a chance. There is no certainty that England players can train with – no assurance that their place is secure.
They’ve even started a player in a position he hasn’t played at club level. What that must do is make it really challenging. Take Freddie Steward, one of the most nailed-on of choices England had before the competition kicked off and now he can’t even get in the team. And that’s not through poor performance. Ben Youngs was a certainty I thought for this competition but we’ve not seen hide nor hair of him. George Ford! Easily one of the best flyhalves in the competition, not even given a sniff in the quarter-final.
It must be so tough to play for a team where these types of players are being circumvented. The 2003 team picked itself. It gave everyone the comfort of knowing where they were. Everyone knew their role, what was expected of them. Not with this England team, there is no such luxury. That is why I feel this side must be viewed as one of the best ever.
ADVERTISEMENT
The players have had to cope with a lot. It’s tough enough at a World Cup but this group have had to do it without much support from back home. The media have been pretty sceptical about their chances and have poked holes in a few of the ideas and options England have taken. This has led to a large amount of apathy from supporters and I know the players feel this.
But they’ve dug deep, continued to rebut stupid questions and really looked after each other. This is really difficult and much more challenging than playing for a team that everybody gets behind. Support is everything to a player, it takes individuals to new heights and while generally, the fans have kinda made the right noises, the lack of belief from some quarters does come through. To achieve a last-four berth with all that going on is unbelievable. This makes them a far better team than previous ones, who were heralded everywhere they went.
Which brings me to Owen Farrell. He is England’s captain and on Sunday, in Marseille, when his name was read out, he was roundly booed. Admittedly, this may not have been all England fans but there were some dressed in white who heckled their fly half and captain. Do you know how tricky it must have been for Farrell to find his focus after that? Lesser men would have crumpled into a heap on the changing room floor or at the least packed their bag and foxtrot-oscared their way out of the stadium.
But no, he put his head down and played one of the most accomplished games he has at this World Cup. He was excellent, despite the way he must have been feeling. That wasn’t easy. Sure, George Ford is a great player and maybe worth a go in the Number 10 shirt, but that’s not Faz’s choice. He was picked by Borthwick to do a job, was heckled and booed, and then still went out and did it. He even dropped a goal. Not that it’ll be remembered. That is infinitely tougher than say, Jonny Wilkinson had it, with everyone fawning over him everywhere he went, cheering every ball he kicked, with women writing to him professing their undying love, with full-grown men naming their firstborns after him. Playing well when you have that sort of entourage is easy. Farrell is pretty much despised everywhere he goes. How impossible must it be to generate the types of performances he has, knowing that? I wonder if Owen will be fronting the TV coverage in twenty years’ time. I doubt it, and yet he deserves to be considered.
ADVERTISEMENT
This team have performed in spite of all this, at a World Cup tournament, which is being roundly described as the best ever. They’ve avoided defeat, ignored the naysayers, kept out the negativity, done what they could, played what was in front of them, and got further than many people ever thought was possible. When you consider where it started, what they’ve had to deal with, how difficult the conditions have been for them to achieve their best, there is only one logical conclusion: this England team are extraordinary.
So, against South Africa in the semi-final, things might conspire and they might lose. But even if they get within 20 points of such a together, well-structured, well-balanced, well-supported group, who have had their coaching team in place for years, it’ll be an era-defining victory in my book.
And if they win it? Well, there will be no argument. This is the best England Rugby team ever.
The argument seems to be - this team is the best, because of how awful they are?
Perhaps the ‘flukiest’ or the most ‘fortuitous’ or the ‘luckiest’ or the most lack-luster and so on …. but for mine a good marist 5 stone b team could beat them on a windy day!. Best side, indeed!
Are you kidding me? This team is trash and SA will prove it on Saturday.
Virtually the same team that Eddie Jones left was inherited by Borthwick, who pretty much stuck with the same squad.
Their performances in the 6n were dire.
The only tier 1 nation they have beaten at this WC is Argentina.
Japan, Chile and Samoa don’t count.
Fiji were incredibly average last wk and still could have won.
This England team with a few notable exceptions is comprised of over the hill has beens.
I think this is a better-balanced approach to everything else i’ve read about Borthwick and staff. He had (what?) 14 days to pick a team for the 6N.
And he would have been crucified for picking an entirely new team that close to a World Cup. Look at Eddie Jones and Australia. No Hooper, no Cooper. A lack of Ooper I think did for them at the end.
He can get around to a rebuild afterwards, in the next cycle. For now, they’ve got the team functioning at the right time.
Do I think we’ll beat the Boks? Not really, they are in exceptional shape. But do I think he’s managed to pull the team together? Yes.
We will have to see the performance but this group of players can totally beat SA if they turn up in the right mindset. If so, they will have done better than ireland. In more ways than just placing higher
Farrell is class…he doesn't care what people think, he doesn't care about armchair pundits’ opinions, he turns up and invariably gets the job done…in a trademark belligerent and attritional style - for club and country. Of course we'll get hammered…and he'll get booed…but we weren't even supposed to get out of the pool stage - the fact we're this far is a win for us… Even better that it's winding everyone up!!
Farrell is his own worst enemy. It’s because he’s got away with a lot. And his lack of humility, and his tackling
Surely Robert’s is surely just taking the p*ss. Our 2002/3 team rank amongst the top 3 rugby union teams of all time. The current squad has indeed shut a lot of mouths by getting to the semis and even if they do get through to the final (highly unlikely) and then win it (would stay drunk for a week but it’s not going to happen) they are still far from being our greatest team ever.
Mark reason for stuff NZ .. For all that, still Ireland only lost by four points. That’s because they are the best side in the world. But New Zealand know all about being the best side in the world and bowing out of World Cups. It certainly happened in 1995 when luck was hideously against them. And it has arguably happened on other occasions.
Journos….