Its mind blowing to me that a nation that claims to be the second best in the Rugby League World, but who has not beaten the best in the world for 30 years, can honestly think its doing things right and is just down on its luck.
As an outsider, its hard to know how to feel about it all. Frustration is the first word that comes to mind, but it is quickly followed up by contempt when you realize that the English continue to back slap each other despite results saying they are complete and utter failures.
Ask anyone who has been the most disappointing side in this World Cup and you will find a bit of umming and ahhing. Its a toss up between last placed France, and England.
Its not hard to see why England fail. Just this week all the signs have been there.
It all started when they decided to huddle around each other instead of facing the New Zealand Haka. I have not seen a more pathetic approach to facing the Haka ever. It told of a mindset in the English game that screams “We have no time for you non English types”.
This of course has been followed up during the week by ridiculous comments that the England team can do what they like while the opposition “Dances” and this has been followed by calls to keep the Kiwi’s from stepping over the half way mark next time, because we wouldn’t want them to confront the precious English side.
If they hadn’t been so easily destroyed by New Zealand during the match, I would suggest that there would have been a lot more said about the ignorant way England has handled itself in the face of a culture thousands of years older than its own.
We also saw the English ignorance on display when coach embattled Tony Smith decided to criticize the tournaments organizers for not allowing an English referee to control games England are taking part in.
This of course is all a last desperate attempt by Tony Smith, who is completely in over his head, to try and give England some sort of advantage over its rivals.
England is more comfortable playing touch football, they like the play the ball speed to be super fast. They are not very good at it mind you, and no one in the England camp seems to realize that a faster ruck would have just seen Australia, new Zealand and PNG pile on another 20 points against them, but as I said, this is an act of desperation and there is not much thought behind it.
England have also been very quick to talk about the “Australian Way” the World Cup has been officiated, completely dismissing the fact that the only other complaints from teams in this World Cup have been about the inconsistent performances put in by English referees.
It seems New Zealand, Tonga, Samoa, Fiji and Papua New Guinea all at the very least also play the game “The Australian Way”, which makes you wonder if its the “Australian Way” or is it just the way Rugby League is played these days?
Another area of the game England has shown to be ignorant in is the preparation for this World Cup.
It all started off with England arriving in Australia late and laughing of suggestions that they would struggle to acclimatize to the Townsville heat because “It gets hot in Leeds too”.
I knowing they would have to beat at least Australia and New Zealand to win the World Cup, England left it to the last 2 weeks of the tournament itself to call in a “Wrestling Coach” to teach the team a tactic that has been in use in the Rugby League playing world (Except England) since 2003.
That is mind blowlingly poor preparation. If a coaches job isn’t to have England ready to take on its opponents leading into the World Cup….then what is a coaches job?
Its all a pattern of behavior you can trace back for a few decades now. Its a belief that England can look within itself and come up with solutions to its own problems.
All of the games cutting edge tactics and training techniques come out of an Australian Rugby League system that is a melting pot of ideas and experimentation. The style of play used in Australia is not set, it evolves in a natural process that is akin to survival of the fittest.
You have the best players and coaches in the world constantly trying to break down the game of the opposition. Tactics and playing styles rise out of this, teams try new things. Some work, others don’t.
The ones that do work get adopted by other sides, they get studied, they get broken down and eventually, they get beaten by a new tactic, a new playing style, something bigger, better and targeted to give one team and edge over the other.
England completely turns its back on this system. They turn their back on the cutting edge of the game and then believe they will somehow win just because they are England.
You won’t have to go far to find someone with in the English game that will say Australia is arrogant.
What these people don’t see is that, Australia knows its place in the Rugby League World.We have defined the game of Rugby League for 100 years. Every other country knows this, they don’t feel threatened by it, and they all want to emulate Australia and its success.
Everyone expect England.
Rugby League in England is doomed unless those within it are willing to open their eyes and take in what is happening around the world. The style of the game played, the newest tactics in use, the latest training techniques, the way talent scouting and player development is done, they need to take it all on board because 30 years of results prove that England itself can not come up with the answers to its own problems.
English Rugby Leagues one hope is that it will finally face up to the ultimate truth, that as much as they hate us, Australia is the answer to all of England problems.
