OPINION – On that fateful day, 22 November 2003, Jonny Wilkinson secured eternal glory for a truly magnificent England side by overcoming the then World Champion Wallabies on their own hallowed turf, in turn breaking Australian hearts and catapulted England into the history books.
While the majority of the focus continues to lie on the achievements of the side at the 2003 World Cup, it was in fact the foundation created by Clive Woodward prior to the World Cup that defined England’s success. Specifically, just ten months prior to World Cup glory, Woodward’s men overcame the best two sides in the world in Australia and New Zealand and dispatched the gritty Springboks on home soil. These spectacular results were then followed by an untouchable six nation’s grand slam campaign where England made a mockery of the elite sides of the Northern hemisphere.
Woodward’s team then subsequently reinforced their world conquering form by securing near impossible away victories against New Zealand and Australia just a handful of months prior to the tournament. As a result, this wonderful side was able to ride on a wave of confidence and continuously revert back to their past success in times of hardship. In the eyes of the Rugby World, Martin Johnson’s side had one hand on the trophy prior to the commencement of the tournament due to a crucial psychological advantage over the world’s leading teams.
Fast forward to 2015 and it’s a very different story. In the twelves months leading up to the World cup, Lancaster’s men haven’t come within a stone’s throw of the 2003 pre-tournament dominance of Woodward’s side. A whitewash 3-0 series defeat in New Zealand in the summer of 2014 made the emphatic 2012 victory against the All blacks a distant memory. These disappointing defeats were then followed by further losses to the Springboks and All blacks on home soil four months later.
England’s lead up to the World Cup was then further compounded by yet another second place finish in the 2015 six nations campaign leaving Robshaw’s side as the bridesmaids of the tournament once again. Critically, unlike the 2003 side, Lancaster’s men haven’t set the benchmark for the rest of the world to aspire to. The side consistently falls short of victory against the crème of the Rugby crop and loses pivotal, tournament defining matches.
While they showed that they could play tournament-winning rugby against France in the final 6 Nations match at Twickenham in March, they did so more out of having nothing to lose then actually crafting and effecting a game plan modeled around the type of exciting play we saw on that eventful day. Rugby as a sport has come a long way since 2003 and teams have become less likely to grind out a victory against teams who effect a game plan around compact and mobile forward packs, second phase pod movements and offloading inside and outside centres.
Additionally, the current side doesn’t possess the same crop of gifted, warrior-like players from 2003 that combined granite like mental toughness with exceptional and clinical playing ability. Players like Martin Johnson, Lawrence Dallaglio, Ben Kay and Phil Vickery epitomised what the 2003 England side were about and while they are tough footsteps to follow, this current crop of England players haven’t reached anywhere near the kind of consistency and intensity of their forebearers.
Furthermore, whilst many of us allude to the impact of home support, it may in fact pale into insignificance as the current side has neither the psychological nor playing edge seen in 2003 which acts as a vital springboard to beat the best sides in the world.
It is often said in sport that small margins make the difference between success and failure – a missed tackle, missed penalty or a dropped ball. Despite statistics not often telling the real story about sporting teams, one can deduce that Stuart Lancaster’s 60% win rate compared with Clive Woodward’s 72% is extremely telling, not only about the ability of their respective team’s players but their ability to grind out a win – which in the end, might be the only margin and statistic that matters.