QQQ Daily Mail, Monday, August 12, 201972 RUGBY WORLD CUP COUNTDOWN
EDDIE HAS TO
START WITH
WATSON NOW
Bath’s classy winger can edge out May
WORLD
CUPWINNING
COACH
SIR CLIVE
WOODWARD
MY ENGLAND
STARTING XV
Unstoppable: Billy Vunipola powers over for the opening tryAFPE
NGLAND won that
game after five
minutes. When
Billy Vunipola
scored early, you
knew they were going to
win. Wales were a shadow
of the side we know from
the start and England had
something to prove.
And for me the two players who
came out really well from the
victory were Anthony Watson
and Joe Launchbury.
I highlighted those two before
the match as players who could
potentially make Eddie Jones’s
starting XV for the World Cup
and I thought Watson was out-
standing yesterday. He has over-
taken Jonny May as the starting
winger in my eyes.
The England team is really set-
tled now, but I think Watson has
just edged ahead of May based
on yesterday’s performance — it
was that good.
Launchbury should certainly be
named in the 31-man squad at
lunchtime today, and I think he is
England’s bench lock for the
tournament at the moment. He
adds real quality to what is
already a position of strength
for England.
It was a good hit-out for both
teams and their coaches. The
result doesn’t really matter but
the coaches will have learned a
lot from the match.
England will be pleased. As
Billy Vunipola said after the
match they are at their best when
they play a structured, power-
based game.
They have the sheer physicality
to play that game with him,
Manu Tuilagi and Joe Coka-
nasiga in their side. It’s a seri-
ously powerful team — everyone
knows what’s coming, but it’s
going to take a big team to stop
England at the World Cup with
those huge men on song.
Eddie is a structured coach and
he really needs his big guys fit forJapan. If they are, England will
be a really tough team to beat.
England have a real chance at
the World Cup, as I have always
said, and I think that win has
cemented that belief especially
as that was not close to Eddie’s
strongest team.
Willi Heinz at scrum-half did
well, no more than that, but I still
can’t believe Danny Care or Rich-
ard Wigglesworth would have
done any worse. I would have
loved to have seen Care play in
that game to inject a bit of atti-
tude, as he’s a spiky player.
Of the new caps — Lewis
Ludlam, Jack Singleton, Joe
Marchant and Heinz — I don’t
see any forcing their way into
contention, certainly in the gun
match-day 23.
I loved Elliot Daly dropping a
goal in open play to put England
14 points ahead — that was classy
from him.
However, one issue that keeps
rearing its head is the number of
penalties that England are con-
ceding. At one point they gave
away five in a row which allowed
Wales back into the game. That
is a huge issue.
England have quite a few X-fac-
tor guys in their side who play
right on the edge — they need to
be careful if World Rugby are
going to crack down on discipline
at the World Cup.
Scott Barrett, the New Zealand
lock, was sent off in the All
Blacks’ defeat by Australia on
Saturday — which to the letter of
the law was the right call — and
it completely changed the game.
It is such a fine line, and youdon’t want to take a step back-
wards, or to have a team of
angels, but no one wants to be on
the plane home and remembered
as the guy who got yellow-carded
or sent off which meant
England lost.
They really have to work on the
discipline as my one worry is
keeping 15 players on the field,
but aside from that I was really
encouraged.
Eddie has a glint in his eye — he
knows he has a team that is capa-
ble of winning the World Cup.
Watching that game, I am sure
he has.BLESSING FOR WALES
WALES just weren’t there today
which should surprise nobody —
they lacked intensity, and it was
totally different from the Six
Nations game they won against
England in Cardiff.
Those sorts of matches are
really difficult to get up for, and
you could tell from the kick-off
that Wales weren’t at the races.
Actually, I think it is a blessing
they will now not be able to call
themselves the No 1 ranked team
in the world today. Let’s face it —
the team in red at Twickenham
were not the best team in
the world.
That will help them, as it allows
them to fly under the radar again.
They will be totally different in
Japan when it really matters.
I feel for them that their
unbeaten record of 14 Test wins
has gone — I don’t believe these
matches should be capped fix-
tures or count as official Tests.
We lost one of our warm-upmatches before the 2003 tourna-
ment by two points to France
with our second team, and if that
had not counted then we would
have racked up an unbeaten run
of 24 matches!
These games are run-outs, no
more than that, but out of the
two coaches Eddie will be far
happier than Warren Gatland.
Warren will be extremely
disappointed.
Wales looked a little tired, and
were on a hiding to nothing
by putting their first XV
out. However, it was just a
warm-up game.WALLABIES PEAKING
AT RIGHT TIME AGAIN
THAT 47-26 Australia win over
New Zealand in Perth was a real
shock, and it is good for the
World Cup.
After Barrett was sent off the
All Blacks had no chance, but
the Wallabies really put them
away. They are always dangerous
in World Cup years, and so are
the Springboks who deserved
to win the Rugby Champion-
ship, their first proper trophy
for a decade.
If England are to win the
World Cup they are going to
have to do it the hard way. Their
route to the final could see them
having to beat Argentina, France,
Wales or Australia, South Africa
or New Zealand.
That line-up suits England, as
like most top sports teams the
better teams bring out the very
best in them. It was a good week-
end for England.PICTURE:
ANDY
HOOPERDazzling:
Anthony
Watson
claims a
high ball AFP 15 E Daly (Saracens)
14 J Cokanasiga (Bath)
13 H Slade (Exeter)
12 M Tuilagi (Leicester)
11 A Watson (Bath)
10 O Farrell (Saracens)
9 B Youngs (Leicester)
1 M Vunipola (Saracens)
2 J George (Saracens)
3 K Sinckler (Harlequins)
4 M Itoje (Saracens)
5 G Kruis (Saracens)
6 T Curry (Sale)
8 B Vunipola (Saracens)
7 S Underhill (Bath)