England “Clueless and Hopeless”

Well I may have claimed below that it’s a great sport, but it was a dismal weekend for most of the Northern hemisphere nations, with Australia, South Africa and New Zealand all playing good winning rugby.

France lost to South Africa 17 - 42

England were shockingly inept, going down 17-27 to the Aussies. “Clueless and Hopeless” says the Sunday Times.

Ireland lost to New Zealand 28 – 66

Only Scotland produced a win against Argentina, 24 - 16

England’s head coach Martin Johnson has for the first time in his two years in charge been harshly critical of his men, perhaps realising that it is no longer sensible to align himself with them. A short paragraph by Robert Kitson in the Observer throws up an interesting statistic:

It is impossible to ignore the stark fact that Brian Ashton was ousted as England's head coach after steering the national team to a World Cup final and presiding over 12 wins and 10 defeats in 22 games. Johnson has also been in charge for 22 games, if you include the two Tests in New Zealand in 2008 when he picked the squad but did not travel. His record reads as follows: Won 8 Drawn 1, Lost 13.