England can’t kick to glory but Marseille was incredible to witness
I have to say, sitting amongst the 65,000 fans at the Stade Velodrome on Saturday as England got their Rugby World Cup campaign off to an incredibly resilient – and winning – start was genuinely next level.
I have never witnessed an atmosphere like it, as George Ford slotted his three drop goals and helped England to strangle Argentina.
My weekend began in Paris last Friday to watch the hosts France take on New Zealand and continued in Marseille to watch England and South Africa beat Argentina and Scotland. It is the perfect country for a World Cup, it is addictive.
Can’t lose sight
But fans and players should not get lost in the fact that this England performance cannot be the answer for the entirety of this tournament.
Sure, Ford can kick England through the pool stages and potentially through a quarter-final tie – likely to be against Wales, Australia or Fiji – but it is one-dimensional and not a plan that can be relied upon against the likes of Ireland, France, South Africa or the All Blacks.
The best teams in the world have a multifaceted approach to the game and England aren’t one of those yet. There’s a lot to work on.
They kicked away 94 per cent of their possession on Saturday, which is genuinely insane. And one of the two times they didn’t kick the ball away, they butchered a four-on-two opportunity.
Steve Borthwick’s side do have the benefit of winning their toughest match in the opening few days and really relieving the pressure on the team from the outset.
And in their subsequent matches – against Japan, Chile and Samoa – England have a solid opportunity to, firstly, win matches and get on a roll before trying to develop an attacking structure which is varied enough to offer options.
England difficulties
Now it is pretty difficult to do that inside a couple of weeks, and England’s summer still looks to be somewhat wasted – despite some internal voices insisting there was a method to their losses in their Summer Nations Series campaign – but they can at least begin to do that.
Questions remain, too, as to whether Owen Farrell can simply walk back into the team.
He may be captain but Ford was so unbelievably good on Saturday that there’s no guarantee the Saracens No10 will start at fly-half.
I for one hope he doesn’t come back into the side.
There’s a higher likelihood of seeing Billy Vunipola return to the matchday 23 having served his ban for a high tackle.
The ball carrier is England’s only listed out-and-out No8 and his inclusion, potentially off the bench, against Japan will be welcome for Borthwick, who clearly saw the back-row as key to his plans when he named his squad in early August.
Adventure
I would like the team to be adventurous and I do believe that Sunday’s fixture will see England rewarded with a bonus point win, but I think their four tries will all come through the forwards. I am not sure they’re in a position to be running orchestrated backs plays just yet.
Whether England are actually able to develop a number of attacking strategies to counter the varied defences and game plans they’re set to run into between now and their World Cup triumph or exit remains to be seen.
But if what I experienced as a fan in Marseille at the weekend continues for the next month, there’s a brilliant foundation for English rugby to really build upon this tournament in France.
Former England Sevens captain Ollie Phillips is the founder of Optimist Performance, experts in leadership development and behavioural change. Follow Ollie on Twitter and on LinkedIn.