cormac wrote:From the bits of the 6N and JWC that I saw their biggest problem was in defence.
Some of it was so incredibly basic. We had guys totally out of position off scrums against France and SA, and then today we missed so many tackles off restarts which gave Japan so many easy yards and lots of belief too. Just like against Scotland when we kept throwing to the back of the lineout and cocking it up spectacularly, there didn't seem to be much direction coming from the sideline, because there's no way we should have kept kicking restarts to Japan's most dangerous carriers.
One improvement today was that we kept the scoreboard ticking over and that was the difference in the end. This might sound stupid in such a high scoring game where we threw away a big lead, but we were actually impressively composed at times. To be fair to everyone involved, the pressure must have been immense so I mention composure in that context.
I've already said that I have sympathy with the coaches because of the players we lost and the direct impact it had on some of our weaker areas but there was just no improvement since the 6N (bar receiving restarts but that should never been as bad in the first place) and some areas regressed even further. Whatever about the unit skills potentially having the excuse of players missing, I thought the skill level was poor, especially up front, and I'm not sure there's an excuse for that.
I'd imagine it was a horrible team to be a part of and would find it hard to judge many of the players on the last 6 months. I've seen guys like Aungier and TOB play far better than they did in the last couple of weeks and there were some other really talented players who showed glimpses of what they can but then were let down by others. Still think a lot of good players will come from this group but the last 6 months has probably set many of them being in their development.