This is a question both Eddie Jones and Warren Gatland are now facing following heavy defeats for their respective teams on Saturday (June 22). Jones’ Japan were hammered 17-52 by England and Gatland’s Wales similarly dismantled 41-13 by South Africa.
The Japanese domestic league cannot compare in intensity to the Gallagher premiership in England. Their league is becoming a place to top up your pension for many overseas players, mainly Kiwis and Springboks.
While England won with ease, they will be concerned with their slow start, something Japan failed to take advantage of. In two week’s time the All-Blacks won’t be so negligent.
Wales, on the other hand, has become a team of unfamiliar players. Gone are the days when the player’s names rolled off one’s tongue. South Africa has depth of talent and a “bomb squad” of replacements, especially forwards who cancel out the sun when they run on the field. You wouldn’t want their food bill.
So how do losing coaches cope with substantial first game losses?
Many base their study and development of team performance and player analysis on four component parts: Technical, Tactical, Physical and Mental. Video analysis of team performance will highlight the good and the bad. However, when you are watching top players in international teams getting beat by big scores, where do you go? Analysis and reviews will take place, some in private, some with the squad and some with individuals. New combinations will be considered in the hope that tries will flow.
The late great Leicester Tigers coach, Chalkie White, described attacking play as follows: “using the ball is a blend of understanding with attitude; of team awareness with individual virtuosity; of practised patterns with spontaneous reaction. The blending is elusive and short-lived.”
If you believe in this maxim, you have limited time to reboot, because you are on the road and the next big encounter is imminent.
England will next take their growing confidence and self belief to the ultimate challenge of two tests against the All Blacks, the second at Eden Park where the hosts never lose. Whether the win in Japan will benefit England or demand changes, only time will tell.
Selection will consume Scott Robertson, the new All Black coach. Winning in New Zealand can be an indicator of future World Cup success, as it did with England in 2003.
Wales take their bruised and battered squad to Australia more in hope than expectation. Australia has a new coach in Joe Schmidt but morale is low down under and the future of Super Rugby is being considered. A Wallaby loss may confirm a negative decision.
Super Rugby
At club level the Auckland Blues easily defeated The Chiefs in the Super Rugby final, 41-10.
Away in South Africa, the Glasgow Warriors pulled off an amazing come from behind win to beat The Bulls in the rarefied air of Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria 16-21 in the United Rugby Championship.
The match of the season may be the final of the Top 14 in France between Toulouse and Bordeaux, being played at the Stade de France on Saturday (June 29). Both play electrifying attacking rugby and any team that has Antoine Dupont as both captain and scrum half is always going to be hard to bet against. So my tip is a win for Toulouse to sit alongside their Europeans Champions Cup.
The Global Rugby Coach, Mike Penistone, is a globally renowned professional rugby coach based in Phuket who is also an ambassador for the Asia Center Foundation, a charity for disadvantaged children. For more information visit: www.rugbycoachingconsultancy.com.