Weather forecasters are predicting a wet week across New Zealand and there is a diplomatic storm brewing off the field, too. No less an expert than Dylan Hartley, a born and raised Kiwi himself, has accused certain locals of talking “rubbish” on the subject of England’s style and fitness levels and the visiting forwards, in particular, will not lack for motivation in Saturday’s second Test.
Complaints that England deliberately tried to slow down the game at Eden Park because of a lack of aerobic fitness have been brusquely dismissed by an unimpressed Hartley, who reckons some critics are living in the past. “Gone are the days of the stereotypes of big, lazy English forward packs that rely on scrum and maul. We’re not that forward pack any more, we’re a dynamic pack. We’ve got variation in our game, we’ve got ball-carriers, we’ve got handlers. Why would we want to slow down the game?”
Under Stuart Lancaster England have made a concerted effort to play at a higher tempo and their fitness levels are as good as, if not better than, any northern hemisphere side. Only 10 days ago Hartley, Courtney Lawes, Tom Wood, Luther Burrell and others were helping Northampton win a cup final in the 100th minute at Twickenham at the fag end of a 10-month season. Lazy? Hardly.
Accusing England of a painfully dismal approach also ignores one other small detail: Test rugby is not simply about dancing obediently to New Zealand’s tune. Scrums, lineouts and driven mauls are as much a part of any game as throwing the ball wide and keeping it alive through multiple phases. Accuracy and teamwork also have their value, as Hartley was quick to stress.
“Why would we slow down a lineout? Maybe we would have a huddle before a lineout to get clarity on the call but it’s not about slowing down the game – especially when we are chasing the game. I’d rubbish anything saying that. We made more line-breaks than them if you look at stats and facts. I don’t know if it was a slow game, was it?”
If anything the biggest culprits in terms of the stop-start spectacle were the All Blacks, who dropped the ball more in 80 minutes than they normally would in a season. It did not stop the usually streetwise New Zealand coach, Steve Hansen, from agreeing with critics of England’s tactics: “Yeah, it does get frustrating because you want to play a game that challenges people aerobically.” Has he forgotten the manner in which England beat his side 38-21 at Twickenham in late 2012? Selective memories would seem to be at play.
Of more immediate relevance is precisely who will start for England in Dunedin now they finally have a full complement to choose from. Hartley says he would not be surprised if Bath’s Rob Webber keeps his place at hooker after the latter’s composed display in the first Test and expects training to be suitably fierce, regardless of the weather.
There is also a collective belief that England can still win the series if they take a higher proportion of their chances than they did in Saturday’s 20-15 defeat. “We are kicking ourselves for not coming away with at least a draw but the series is very much alive,” said Hartley, now recovered from a fractured shoulder blade.
“The trap we can’t fall into is thinking it will be like it was last weekend. The All Blacks haven’t got to be world number one just by turning up. They set high standards. I can imagine they will be looking at the game and saying it wasn’t good enough for them. They will be setting the bar higher and we have got to get ready to go again as well.”
There is an obvious case study in the form of France, who posed the All Blacks multiple problems in the first Test this time last year only to be swept aside in the second. “They were quite competitive in the first game, their Top 14 players turned up and then they got humped 30-0 in the second,” recalled Hartley. “Just because the Premiership finalists are back in doesn’t mean it will automatically happen. We have got to be prepared.”
For the Rotorua-reared Hartley there is an equally strong desire to show he and England deserve more respect than some New Zealanders give them. “This is where I hail from and people haven’t seen me play so, personally, I’d like to perform. I’d like to leave the country with my head held high. As a team, too, it’s about laying down a marker. We’re not cannon fodder. We’re not here to lose. We’re here to really challenge these guys.”
More than that, England are desperate to start winning close games and, sooner rather than later, trophies. “We need to get over the line somewhere and here is the perfect place to do it,” said Hartley. “By doing it against the All Blacks, the world number ones, it’s a hell of a statement. That is the challenge. We’ve only won two Tests here so we’re going to make history if we do it. The message that would send out to the rugby world is that we’re getting there.”
