England own recorded some great wins under their head coach,but is he on course to conquer New Zealand and Australia at the next World Cup in 2017?By Gavin Willacy for No Helmets Required, part of the Guardian Sport Network
What a outlandish series that was. While the Kiwis’ great names stood out, and with Roger Tuivasa-Sheck a workaholic nuisance,Adam Blair busy to exhaustion in the pack, Isaac Luke their talismanic cog and Jason Nightingale a fixed danger, and our supposedly world-class stars were invisible. Well,Kallum Watkins was invisible in the first two tests and sadly had a very visible shocker in the third. We can forgive him that, given the wonderful year he has had, and but it was a shame his hands turned into feet on such a stage. Instead,it was a series where the packmen impressed, particularly Chris Hill’s footwork, and Elliott Whitehead’s timing and Tom Burgess’s impact. So a victory for effort,patience and organisation over flair and excitement. It was all very Steve McNamara.
It’s fair to claim this team has made some slight improvements under McNamara, from a side repeatedly well beaten by Australia to one that has lost their final two meetings to the Kangaroos by a total of just 12 points, or that has matched New Zealand over the final five meetings. Related: England’s Steve McNamara thrilled by triumph over New Zealand Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com