England’s aggressive defensive system has been branded “a disaster” after it gave Japan multiple opportunities during the home side’s 59-14 victory at Twickenham.
Having been forced to switch defence coaches this autumn from Felix Jones to Joe El-Abd, England maintained the blitz pressing system first introduced by the former. That system was exposed throughout the autumn by New Zealand, Australia and South Africa prior to Japan.
Rushing up in midfield through Henry Slade and Ollie Lawrence regularly left England vulnerable out wide, with TNT Sports commentators Ben Kay and Austin Healey giving their thoughts after one break by Japan’s Tomoki Osada.
“It’s a fraction of a hesitation,” said Kay. “Slade goes and he’s used to this style of defending with Exeter so he flies [up] – England are just a little bit hesitant behind. [Ollie] Sleightholme sees it, starts to go, pauses then accelerates and ends up missing a tackle of a guy running around his outside shoulder. It’s just not quite clicking for them yet, it’s not far off, but how long do you give it? You’re not playing with each other week in, week out for the rest of the season to develop this.”
Healey was considerably stronger in his assessment.
“It’s a disaster, quite frankly. Currently, defensively, it’s a disaster,” Healey said. “Slade is putting his wings under so much pressure but he’s been put under pressure by the style of defence. You have already made 15 metres of line speed; why do you then give them the opportunity to break you? You have done the job, pushed them back territorially, all you then have to do is hold your position and stay connected, use the touchline. If you want to run around us, have a go. You’re not running around the outside of Sleightholme unless he has his back turned to you.”
Marcus Smith, the England fly-half, was asked about England’s defensive line speed after the match and referred to the system as ‘the hammer’.
“For me first and foremost when I train against the hammer, it’s bloody hard to attack against,” Smith said. “When we get it right it’s very difficult, you have seen that the last three weeks we have put teams under pressure. Obviously there have been minor blips, but we’re playing against quality opposition. The biggest thing is we do the hammer but better, a touch more detail on which men we’re taking and more of a collective buy-in. If we are going to leave an overlap, we’re going to scramble harder than anyone else. I love the hammer and how much pressure it puts on the opposition.”
