2011 was a roller coaster year for English rugby, with the high of winning the Six Nations followed by the terrible low of an abject display in New Zealand at the Rugby World Cup, culminating in an uninspiring loss to France in the quarter-finals. The question on everyone’s lips now though is can they bounce back? Can they put the demons of last year behind them and top the 2012 Six Nations, which would at least take some of the pain away from the 2011 World Cup shambles?
England’s main problem over the last year certainly hasn’t been a lack of talent, as they have players capable of turning a game, such as Ashton and Tuilagi. The problem has in fact been with the mental state of the players and the leadership that they were under – a leadership that ended with the departure of Martin Johnson and the instatement of Stuart Lancaster. This is seemingly a good move, as Lancaster is an experienced coach who has the ability to instill both confidence and discipline into what is now a young England squad.
The other massive change that has come about in the England rugby team is the change of players themselves. Many of the older players have now retired or been removed from the squad, with Jonny Wilkinson being the most noticeable player to no longer feature. In have come a number of less experience d and younger players, and even the new captain – Chris Robshaw – has only ever played once for the national team. While this might seem to leave England open when playing against more experienced teams, it should bring back the pride that the players have in playing for their country, leading to the newer players putting in 110% in order to come out victorious.
So, the squad has had an overall and the management has changed, but we all know that as much depends on how good the other teams are in the competition when it comes to whether England can win the Six Nations outright. At the risk of upsetting out Scottish and Italian friends, I’m going to gloss over them, as they will probably be fighting for the wooden spoon and will therefor present no threat to the winner’s podium. This leaves us with Ireland, Wales and France, all of whom have a great chance of winning.
Wales performed superbly during the World Cup and perhaps deserved to have made it to the final – where, when you consider the way that they were playing, they would have had a much better chance than France of beating New Zealand. They will look to keep this momentum going but it’s likely that they will slip up at least once against the other teams, meaning that I don’t think they will come out on top. They’ll miss Shane Williams massively too, and they haven’t yet found anyone to replace their talisman.
Ireland next, and they also had a strong World Cup. In fact, they beat Australia in their group games and therefore obviously have the ability to beat any other team on the planet. They will suffer though as they too have lost an important player in Brian O’Driscoll and they need Sexton or O’Gara to really step up. They could well run out as winners though – not because they are the greatest team to ever play the game, but simply due to the weakness of the other teams in the tournament.
Finally, we come to France – the World Cup finalists and the team that only lost by 1 point to New Zealand in this match. This result hides a massive deficiency in the French team though and their performances in the World Cup certainly didn’t merit a final place. They were scrappy, disorganized and seemed to have no heart, but they will be up there in the Six Nations, without a doubt.
So, can England win? Well, they have a fighting chance but there are three other teams with a much better record coming into the tournament. It all depends whether the new look team can gel in time for the opening game – what should be a relatively easy one against Scotland – or whether they simply get taken apart by the more experienced and better organized teams in the tournament. One thing is for sure – this is one of the most wide open tournaments in recent memory!