Element of surprise is beauty of this game

Feb 5 2008 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

ENGLAND were once dubbed the worst team to have ever offered a defence of the World Cup before a remarkable recovery saw them finish as runners-up to South Africa a few weeks later.

After England’s second-half capitulation against Wales in the Six Nations last weekend, it is tempting to dub Brian Ashton’s side as the worst team to defend a lead at Twickenham.

After a World Cup of shocks and surprises that saw the mighty New Zealand and the highly-fancied Australia dumped out in the quarter-finals and the supposedly weak Argentina in the semis, the Six Nations has begun where the showpiece tournament left off.

While England were falling to pieces at rugby headquarters, Ireland were breathing a massive sigh of relief that they had not followed up a dismal World Cup – which saw them fail to reach the knockout phase – with a home defeat to Italy.

If England’s defeat was the most embarrassing and the most painful of the opening weekend, Ireland’s inability to kill off an Italian side still regarded as the whipping boys of the competition has sparked almost as much criticism as England’s players have had to endure.

For the neutral, however, the opening weekend was a reminder that nothing is certain or assured in sport, which is precisely why most of us love it. While the Premier League may have been all too predictable as the same four teams parade the same three domestic trophies year after year, rugby has retained the capacity to thrill us by shattering illusions of grandeur.

England’s 26-19 defeat on Saturday evening – the first Welsh victory at Twickenham in 20 years – was inept even by the standards of the long and undistinguished history of inept defeats which litter English sporting achievement.

After all, in the last 12 months alone, we have seen the England football squad fail to qualify for Euro 2008, while the national cricket team is still licking its wounds from the 5-0 Ashes whitewash at the hands of Australia and the miserable World Cup campaign that followed in the Caribbean.

But having so unexpectedly transformed their fortunes at the World Cup where, having scraped into the knockout stage they beat Australia in the quarter-final and then hosts France in the semis, we had all hoped for another golden era of English rugby.

Why? Had we forgotten that in the four years since England were crowned World Champions, defeats like the one to Wales at the weekend had become commonplace. The performances of the national side have been inconsistent and infuriatingly disjointed for years, not just in 40 second-half minutes on Saturday. As impressive as they were, England’s upturn in fortune in the autumn was built on a restrictive, unimaginative power game, which took the team back to basics and relied, as ever, on the kicking prowess of Jonny Wilkinson. It was backs to the wall, defiance in the face of adversity type stuff which we English tend to do rather well.

In the first-half against Wales, England once again pummelled the opposition pack into submission. In truth, they should have had the game wrapped up at half-time such was the nature of their dominance and, had winger Paul Sackey’s dive over the line just before half-time been judged a try, there would have been no way back for the Welsh. At that stage, Wales were merely clinging on in defence and probably thinking about a damage limitation exercise in the second half.

England were probably thinking of how many points they could rack up and there lies the fundamental reason for what happened after the break. Wales had nothing to lose and played with freedom. England thought they were cruising, but they had everything to lose and crumbled in mind and body as soon as it begun to look as though Wales suggested they had a fightback in them.

England are not the first team to suffer because of complacency and Wales are not the first team to pull off a stunningly unlikely comeback. Neither will be the last, because that is what makes sport such a wonderful spectacle.

England did not become a superb side overnight at the World Cup and they have not become a dreadful one because of what happened on Saturday.

They should be hurt by what happened and embarrassed by the manner their game unravelled in front of their own supporters, but one thing that can rival a comeback like Wales’ is the prospect of a wounded side bouncing back from humiliation.

Rugby, the Six Nations Championship and, perhaps even England, will be better off for the events of last weekend.