Rugby World Cup Pretenders Exposed

No doubt England were the best performed rugby team in the 18 months prior to last years World Cup. But were always susceptible due to the age and the tradition of choking in recent years.
They're reign has proved shortlived as the All Blacks took bragging rights away from last Saturdays Test Match. England have a few key injuries and a number of their 'dads army squad' have retired and boy are the rest of us enjoying their shortlived time at the 'top of the tree.

As reported on www.allblacks.com
Justin Marshall - NZRURun English off feet says Marshall
17/06/2004 08:41 AM NZPA
The glimpses of attacking back play that carried the All Blacks to a 36-3 drubbing of England last weekend were merely an appetiser says halfback Justin Marshall.

While a much-improved forward effort from recent seasons was rightly lauded as the reason for success at Carisbrook, Marshall said the New Zealand team of 2004 still had the ability and ambition to play with width and pace.

He suggested the plan in Saturday's second Test would be to once again win a share of ball but then to stretch the England defence to both sides of Eden Park, something they couldn't achieve at Dunedin. Having opened up a 30-3 lead, it was prudent to base their second half tactics around territory and tactical kicking.

"We were a little bit dictated to in that match by the conditions, we showed we could play the physical game up front," Marshall said. "We wanted to play a different style of game but the ball was a bit greasy and we probably didn't achieve everything out of that game that we wanted to."

The All Blacks' most experienced player with 71 tests believed the team needed to win just 50 percent of possession to execute the game plan they wanted to. He estimated the side were operating on "60-70 percent skills-wise", something that would improve in every game.

"We're under the belief that we have the ability to use the ball in a capacity that puts teams under pressure. "There's a compressed zone of the field where you're just going to go nowhere. Any side is vulnerable to attack in large amounts of phases and that's what we want to do, where we want to get to."

The All Blacks believe that while the English attitude would be much improved from a week earlier, they were still physically tired. Playing at width was an ideal way to run the less mobile visiting forward pack off their feet. Assistant coach Wayne Smith, in charge of the All Blacks' attack, agreed there was plenty of scope to improve their backline play and general finishing from Dunedin.

"If you watch the first three plays of the match, there were opportunities to score three tries and we didn't take them for whatever reason," he said.

"But I don't think they (England) will stand off like they did at Carisbrook. They were shell-shocked after 10 minutes and we won the physical battle. I can't imagine them standing back this week. "The defensive line is going to come up faster. We'll see what the conditions are like before we decide what we're going to do."

Rain is forecast for Auckland on Saturday night.