What England Can Learn from the Rugby World Cup 2015 Semi-Finalists

These are sobering times for England’s players.

Many of them have already donned their club colours while the tournament plays on without them. Meanwhile, the review of their performances in white is under way.

Newspaper columns are piling up by the day as to how it should conclude, as well as whether or not the panel consists of the right people at all. Sam Peters, writing for the Daily Mail, certainly thinks Sir Ian McGeechan should be nowhere near it.

But as the panel get down to work, they would do well to take time out on Saturday and Sunday to watch and learn from the four sides left in the tournament.

Argentina

New Zealand and Argentina, especially, showed the world how best to play this sport during their quarter-final victories.

It is no coincidence that they are umbilically linked by the man who guided the All Blacks to their 2011 triumph, as former England coach Brian Ashton explained in the Independent:

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The consultancy work done in the country by Graham Henry influenced some of the key decision-makers in Puma circles and encouraged them to explore non-traditional ways of preparing for, and playing, Test rugby against the strongest opposition. When I made a coaching visit to Argentina in March, it was immediately obvious there was a genuine eagerness to think outside the box. The outcome of that thinking is the reality we saw in Cardiff last weekend, when a proactive Argentina side played with such courage and ambition.

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Courage, ambition and no little intelligence. Dean Ryan points out in the Guardian the strategy of leaving two men out on the wing who, if fed fast enough ball, will always have a two-on-one in front of them. See their first, second and third tries as examples.

It was a clever plan allowed to flourish because the Pumas did what England could not: produce fast ball from forwards smashing their way over the advantage line.

New Zealand

As for the All Blacks, fast ball to send it into the spaces is their modus operandi, but what English coaches and players may want to take more heed of is the fact that against the French, every man, regardless of the number on his back, was able to receive and give the ball quickly and accurately.

Observe reserve tighthead Charlie Faumuina’s pass for Kieran Read’s try and then marvel at an even better effort from Joe Moody, their third-choice loosehead, when he fed Tawera Kerr-Barlow for a score.

Australia

England have already had firsthand experience of how the Wallabies can eviscerate a team. They have always had clever backs, but they now have a back row with world-class players at spoiling and turning over the ball at the tackle area.

England, as if they need reminding, do not, because they refused to pick Steffon Armitage.

The Wallabies taught England another lesson in the scrum. England can try to add all the handling and passing skill they like to their team, but no England side with a weak set piece will ever win a World Cup again.

South Africa

Surely the greatest lesson the Boks have taught us all in this tournament is how to bounce back from adversity. It’s hard to understand the size of the shock the defeat against Japan had on this rugby-crazed nation.

But they dusted themselves off to finish on top of their pool and advanced past Wales with a stoic display to reach their first semi-final.

England are in a pretty deep well right now, but South Africa at least showed them how to grasp the rope and start climbing.