SO WHAT'S happened to England, then? That's the question which
reverberates around the rugby world at the moment. Champs to chumps in
just a few months, it is hard to take in.
I watched the English beat the All Blacks at Twickenham in November,
and a rousing and well deserved victory it was.
New Zealand did miss their goal-kicker Matthew Cooper and were quite
bemused by the home tactics of kicking the ball long and inviting the
visitors to do something with it.
Rob Andrew won the battle of tactics that day and Dean Richards had
stoked the fires in the English pack as only he can. It was a display of
which all could be justifiably proud. What it was not was an automatic
assurance of Five Nations' Championship success.
Yet it was heralded as such. England, we were told, were different
class to the rest of us.
On the BBC's Sports Review of 1993 the rugby side, despite having lost
to both Wales and Ireland in the previous 12 months, were quite
cynically and disgracefully named as team of the year. Eat your hearts
out, Man U.
And Will Carling and co. began to believe their own publicity. Manager
Geoff Cooke was even tempted to speculate that England might have to
turn their backs on the Five Nations and seek greater challenges
elsewhere.
The English authorities suggested the television fees from
international encounters should, in future, be heavily loaded in their
favour. Arrogance often comes before deflation.
A very fortunate single-point win at Murrayfield was glossed over --
Scotland had been offside most of the time and were doing naughties at
the lineout, so no wonder the brave boys in white could not score a try.
The worst whinger after the Calcutta Cup game was the aforementioned
Mr Andrew in a newspaper column.
In my opinion, no current international player should be writing for
the press. Their comments, usually ghosted, are either offensive or
banal.
Anyway, England would splatter the Irish and look superb in the
process.
En route to Cardiff I encountered a well-known English scribe. ''Not
going to Twickenham?'' I enquired. ''No point,'' came the reply. ''I
want to see a contest, not a walkover.'' And they wonder why they are
not liked.
The second biggest cheer of the day at the Arms Park was when the news
of the Irish triumph was announced. There was still no English try to
report.
Earlier this week I was talking, about something else in fact, to
former Scotland captain Colin Deans. This is a man with 52 caps, a
British Lion, a Hawick legend. The events of the season so far were
touched upon and he suddenly let fly.
''England are going fundamentally wrong,'' he declared. ''If the rest
of us try to follow their example the game will be damaged, not just
their reputations. Their style of play is an absolute bore.
''What people like Geoff Cooke are doing is taking the enjoyment out
of international rugby.
''I read that the English squad now have a psychologist. Can you
imagine what a psychologist would have made of a flair player like Jim
Renwick or someone as unpredictable as Andy Irvine?
Many of the England players will not even take a pint after a match.
I'm sorry, but if this is what the modern game is all about I am very
glad to be retired.
''They say the English will be the fittest team in next year's World
Cup. That will be a fat lot of good if they don't win it.''
Deans believes his generation had the best of both worlds. Their
preparation was professional, but they did not have to cope with the
financial pressures which now surround the top players.
''I think we are moving towards a professional game. Not just players
will be paid but coaches, too -- it is happening already. In some ways
it might be better if we just accepted that and paid the wages. At least
that way the 'donkeys' of the front row might get a fair share of the
cash.
''Before we do, however, we should be quite clear where this is taking
the sport. If it means playing the kind of stereotyped, brain-washed
rugby that England are dishing up, is this really what is required? When
the Twickenham crowd start to slow handclap does not that tell us
something?''
The man has a point. If Wales achieve the Grand Slam, and I hope they
do, they will at least have some tries to show on the video.
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