Coach must find way to prevent players from going into their shells and reverting to old habits when they pull on an England shirt
Coach must find way to prevent players from going into shells and reverting to old habits when they pull on an England shirt
Identifying why is no easy task because when good players come into camp in form and on the back of impressive seasons, as a lot of this squad have, you expect that the shirt will elevate them because they are surrounded by the best players in the country and the best coaches, but it seems the jersey has been diminishing them. The hope is that they’ve addressed the necessary coping mechanisms should things start to unravel again.
They have to be able to apply themselves for longer in matches, not just opening quarters. Ultimately how teams play and perform is a reflection of how you prepare in training. All players and coaches will tell you that. If England play well this weekend, win and score some really good tries they’ll say it was down to the good work they put in during the week. So the same should apply if they underperform and look fragile, there must be something missing.
When they have the ball in hand they need to get to a point where they’re thinking the same thing. Against Scotland, when they successfully turned the ball over, there might be one or two players coming alive but there could be five or six sitting in the pocket waiting for the ball to be kicked. What a waste of an opportunity.