Issue 150

Robinson pays the price of failure

04th December 2006

The autumn internationals drew to their conclusion last weekend, and it was something of an anticlimax to what was expected to be a strong northern hemisphere showing. Only Ireland and Wales managed to salvage some pride for the home nations, but was seriously dented by the supposed world champions of rugby.

Wales made a promising start to the Autumn International with a thrilling draw with Australia, and followed this up with victories over Canada and the Pacific Islands by convincing margins, before being brought down to earth with a bump by New Zealand. The emergence of the Ospreys' James Hook, reverting to Fly Half from Outside Centre, will hand coach Gareth Jenkins a selection dilemma for the upcoming Six Nations campaign. The welsh contingent will be proud of their achievements this autumn and have every reason to feel optimistic ahead of 2007. One focus point for Jenkins will be the Welsh scrum and pack which lost a lot of territory cheaply throughout the internationals.

Scotland failed to live up to the hype surrounding the autumn internationals, crashing heavily at home to Australia, but they did notch a handsome win over Romania, and a nervy victory over the Pacific Islands. However, Coach Frank Hadden was full of praise for his tartan army and looks confident ahead of the busy schedule facing them in 2007. The Scots will be relying on their newfound pace and strength to guide them to a strong showing in France.

Ireland underlined their status as the number one team out of the home nations, with comfortable victories in all of their autumn internationals, including impressive displays against Australia and South Africa. They also bid an emotional farewell to Lansdowne Road as they prepare to build a state of the art stadium in its place. The Irish were sharp and powerful in all of their performances, and few would bet against them going far at the World Cup, with this reporter tipping them for an outside shot at bringing the Webb Ellis trophy back to the UK.

The story of the tournament however, is reserved for the current World Champions, who looked anything but that over the past month. Andy Robinson's England endured a miserable campaign, notching up only one victory out of four, a run which ultimately cost Robinson his job. A new coach will need to be installed quickly if they are to have any hope of adequately preparing for the immanent World Cup, and surely the first piece of business will be to train a decent Fly-Half after a dismal set of displays from Charlie Hodgson. The Sale player was culpable for gifting possession to the opposition far too often with missplaced kicks, and failing to find touch on an irritatingly large number of times. A sturdy scrumhalf will also be need to sure up what was a shaky midfield, with Peter Richards not doing himself any harm in the victory against South Africa.

The French and Italians faired no better, both notching just one victory a piece. France will be particularly disappointed that they failed to match New Zealand in either of their fixtures, particularly as they were widely seen as the one northern team capable of giving New Zealand a decent match.

To make matters worse New Zealand, favourites for the world cup, underlined their superiority with some frightening displays, outclassing everything in their path, including a 47-3 mauling of France and a 45-10 thrashing of Wales. In fact, the All Blacks only failed to score more than 40 points on one occasion, a frightening prospect ahead the World Cup in 2007. Argentina also put in some terrific performances, most notably their 25-18 success at Twickenham and pushing France all the way in a narrow 26-27 defeat.

What is painstakingly clear from these internationals is that the Northern Hemisphere has a long way to go before they can realistically challenge for the World Cup. But barring an All Black collapse in France, it seems unlikely there will be any other outcome than the Golden Trophy returning to the southern regions of the globe.

Sam Pettit