New Zealand vs England – Focus on Englands Defensive Woes
Alas it was not to be, 3-0 to New Zealand. Expected? Maybe so, but England must have hoped for a test win. They showed a lot of encouraging signs but for all their endeavor they still came up significantly short. Combative yes, competitive, yes, but for about 30-40 minutes of the test series New Zealand tore England apart with attacking Rugby that exposed huge flaws in their game. Defence has been a big part of England's...
Anatomy of a Try – Ben Smith New Zealand vs England June2014
It's been a couple of weeks since our last Anatomy of a Try, or Video, but we touched on this try in our article focusing on the second test. It's an absolute gem and a lot happens in the sequence so I wanted to come back and break it down in a bit of detail. England had a great start to this test match but you're never going to sit on a lead against the All Blacks, so it can't have been much of a...
Keep it Simple Stupid – Focus on New Zealand vs England 2nd Test
Game two and the series to New Zealand. But did we expect anything less? While it was a very good game to watch, and England were competitive throughout, it was New Zealand’s ability, post half time break, to raise and maintain the intensity for a 20 minute period that was the major difference. Within those 20 minutes they gave one of the most clinical displays of attacking Rugby you are likely to see, but what struck...
Focus on: Englands Summer Tour Part 2
It’s just under two weeks till the first test in Englands tour to New Zealand, and with the Heineken Cup done and dusted, and the Premiership finalists now known, we have a rough idea of how the first test team will line up, and well, it’s reasonably strong. Yes, England will be missing a couple of key players, Owen Farrell and Tom Woods for example, but in most positions they’ll be bringing in international...
Focus on: Englands Summer Tour
In July England head to the dark wet depths of New Zealand for a four game, three test, summer tour. Players running out in the Aviva final the week before means the first test will see a very different England team to the one that finished the Six Nations in quite some pomp. Never the less. England will head south with a large, confident and talented squad, but whilst they will talk of a belief that they can beat the worlds number...