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'We are fortunate': Where Wayne Barnes has really stood out helping England at training this week

(Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

England this week moved to solve their Guinness Six Nations penalty-conceding problems by inviting Test level referees Wayne Barnes and Matthew Carley along to their training base in London ahead of next Saturday’s round four clash with France at Twickenham.

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Eddie Jones’ struggling English players conceded a combined total of 41 penalties in their three February matches, ruining their championship title defence with defeats to Scotland and Wales and an unimpressive win over hapless Italy.

England were due to be officiated this weekend by South African referee Jaco Peyper, but the pandemic resulted in a reshuffle which will now see Andrew Brace, last December’s Autumn Nations Cup final referee, take charge of this repeat Le Crunch fixture.

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In an effort to help England clean up their act, Barnes and Carley – who respectively refereed this year’s Wales-Ireland and Italy-France games in Cardiff and Rome – have visited The Lensbury to get them up to speed on the sport’s latest hotspots and iron out some kinks in their performances.

Attack coach Simon Amor has dubbed the duo’s involvement as very useful in the lead-up to the visit by the Grand Slam-chasing French to London. “We are really fortunate to have two of the best referees in the world in with us this week,” he said.

“It has been really useful in terms of having conversations with the players and on the pitch with our training, getting some proper referees in there to really have a look at that area. It has been a good experience. There have been good questions from the players, one-to-one conversations, team conversations as well. Wayne was very good at explaining how he prepares for a game and what he looks for as well so we can understand that. It has been a really good process.

“All we can do is our best in terms of educating players and keep them growing and learning. None of the errors or penalties the guys give away are deliberate. They are trying to do their absolute best and we really want to play with physicality and intensity and be right on the edge and sometimes we tipped over it. It’s a good process for individual players, the team and the coaches.”

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Switching to his own area of expertise, Amor claimed he was encouraged by how England attacked last time out in Cardiff even though they were ultimately defeated 40-24 by the table-topping Wales. “It was an encouraging performance.

“Where we were with Scotland we were well below our best, an improvement against Italy and then really pleased with how we found some of the opportunities to get on some inside shoulders, attack some of the gaps, keep the ball alive… that was really good (against Wales). 

“The ability for the backs to connect with the forwards was better. We still missed a good couple of opportunities there so it is still something that we can get a lot better on but the connections between forwards and backs, finding gaps, finding shoulders, a much more decisive intent with the carry through, it was a lot better.”

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SK 46 minutes ago
Why England's defence of the realm has crumbled without Felix Jones

The way they are defending is sometime pathetic to be honest. Itoje is usually on the inside of the rush and he is paired with a slower tight forward. Unable to keep up with the rush we have seen the line become disconnected on the inside where the big boys are. How many times have we seen Earl rush past the first receiver almost into no mans land covering no attacker. It looks like a system without any guidance. Tome Wright, Ikitau and a number of Wallabies went back to this soft centre as did Williams, Jordan and several others. Also when the line is broken the multiple lines of defence seems to be missing. The rush is predicated on a cover and recovery system with multiple lines of defence but with England you dont see it any more. Fitness and conditioning seems to be off as well as players are struggling to keep up with the intensity of the rush. Felix Jones has left a huge hole. The whole situation was and is a mess. Why they insist on not letting him go and having him work remotely is beyond me. Its leading to massive negative press and is a hot button issue thats distracting from the squad. Also the communication around Jones and his role has been absolute rubbish and is totally disjointed. While some say he is working remotely and playing a role others are saying theres been no contact. His role has not been defined and so people keep asking and keep getting different answers. England need a clean break from him and need to start over. Whatever reason for his leaving its time to cut the rope before the saga drags the whole Borthwick regime down. As for Joe El Abd well good luck to him. He is being made to look like an amateur by the whole saga and he is being asked to coach a system thats not his and which has been perfected and honed since 2017 by Nienaber, Jones, Erasmus and Co and which was first started by White in 2004. He is literally trying to figure out a system pioneered by double world cup winning coaches at the highest level and coach it at the same time. Talk about being on a hiding to nothing.

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