Hindsight may be very helpful, however I used to be shocked with the timing of a few of the adjustments England made, as I did not really feel they had been vital.
They changed the whole entrance row early within the second half after they had been nonetheless dealing with themselves effectively.
New Zealand had been behind within the scrum within the first half and also you knew they had been positively going to do one thing about it.
The primary scrum after the break, the All Blacks simply had slightly edge and instantly England made adjustments within the entrance row.
You most likely thought they’d go to a different scrum and see if England may deal with it, nevertheless it was instant.
I wholeheartedly disagree, nevertheless, with the timing of the choice to interchange half-backs Ben Spencer and Marcus Smith with Harry Randall and George Ford.
Spencer and Smith had managed the sport rather well. There have been threats in every single place and so they had been enjoying a terrific fashion of rugby.
They did not have plenty of possession however after they did, Marcus created issues.
The sport was nowhere close to received. England had been main by eight factors however you knew New Zealand had been nonetheless going to have a say.
I simply suppose it took the momentum out the sport and the way in which England had been organising their defence.
Nonetheless, there’s not one a part of me that may lay any blame with Ford for the missed drop-goal try within the ultimate play.
It was an utter shambles of a drill.
From the second that scrum went down below the posts, it appeared each single participant checked out Ford for the drop-goal. Randall picked up from the center of the scrum, when it ought to have been Alex Dombrandt’s ball at quantity eight.
Then he shipped it on and so they undergo the phases a bit. Everyone seems to be taking a look at Ford however no-one is doing their job of trucking it up and moving into place.
Return to England v Eire within the Six Nations when all of it got here all the way down to Marcus Smith’s drop-goal.
England had two penalty benefits proper in entrance of the sticks. If Smith had topped that, that they had a penalty due to the wonderful work the forwards had performed to create that state of affairs.
Jonny Wilkinson was nice at drop-goals however he had an England ahead pack in entrance of him to manage the narrative across the breakdown.
You may see Ford was taking a look at Randall and never wanting the ball as a result of he was on the again foot and static. When he did get it, it’s above his head with a number of All Blacks working at him.
It was a one in a 100 shot.
