Rugby World Cup Blog

It has now been a few weeks since the end of the Six Nations and it is probably a good time to sit back and assess where England are as a team. Martin Johnson’s men finished the tournament well, but is there enough to suggest that success is around the corner?

One man whose opinion on this question holds high significance is former England captain Will Carling. He has been having his say on Johnson’s England side, both the good signs and the areas which still require improvement.

The first thing that Carling highlighted was that consistent selection was essential in stabilising England during the latter part of the Six Nations. He says that there has been ‘lack of direction and confusion’ in the last few years and this has led to poor performances.

However, Carling believes that keeping faith with the likes of Danny Care, Harry Ellis and Ricky Flutey proved very successful in getting the best out of the team. Chopping and changing the team every game was not helping, after all.

Overall, Carling believes that this consistent selection has been the ‘biggest plus’ of the last few months for England. This means that everything is looking ‘far more positive’ than it was this time last
year.

The main area that England need to improve on though, according to Carling, is the leadership shown on the pitch. Speaking about current captain Steve Borthwick, Carling says that he ‘feels sorry for him’ because of the lack of leaders around him.

When Carling was captain, he says that he had an ‘incredible group’ of players in his team that included several club captains. This isn’t the case at the moment, but Carling is hopeful that this will develop ‘as the team grow’.

All in all, Carling seems positive about England’s future. This probably means that we all should feel a bit more optimistic. He knows what it takes to put a winning side together and it is obviously his rugby prediction that Johnson has a group capable of success.

By Thomas Rooney

Will Carling has his say