Quick fix to England woes would be a flying start against Scotland

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Will Macpherson5 February 2020

What did England’s two most ­complete performances of 2019 — the Six Nations victory over Ireland in ­February and the unforgettable World Cup win over New Zealand in October — have in common?

In both games, England had scored a try within 100 seconds of kick-off: Jonny May in the corner in Dublin and Manu Tuilagi from close-range in Yokohama.

There has, in the three days since England’s defeat in Paris, been much head-scratching and chin-stroking over what exactly has gone wrong.

What is the cause of the stark difference in performance between that brilliant showing against New Zealand and the two that have followed it, the defeats to South Africa and France?

Well, England’s starts seem as good a place as any to begin.

In Pictures | Six Nations opening weekend | 01/02/2020

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The early scores in Dublin and Yokohama were not outliers. Indeed, over the last 18 months or so, many of England’s other most impressive performances — the thrashing of France last February, the one-point loss to New Zealand in 2018’s autumn series and the win over Australia that followed a week later all featured tries in the game’s earliest throes.

By contrast, in the World Cup Final, then in Paris, those early scores eluded England and they never truly looked like recovering. In Japan, poor planning and heavy traffic meant they arrived at the stadium late, then South Africa made all the running. In Paris, England made a positive start, only for France’s first attack to bring a try for Vincent Rattez.

“The first few plays against France we started pretty well,” said Willi Heinz, who came on for scrum-half Ben Youngs in Paris, yesterday.

“Manu got up and made a good tackle. We were pinned close to their line and we did some good things early in that game. [It’s important] we don’t lose sight of that.”

As with the rest of the game, though, England could not convert time in the French 22 into points.

One of the criticisms of England this week feeds into the idea that the way they start a game is all-important. The theory goes that when the tide turns against them, or a team surprises them, they do not have the speed of thought or leadership to solve the problem.

“We have talked about the start of that game,” said Heinz. “You want to start well, but equally so do the opposition. Sometimes the bounce of a ball or a decision can take the momentum away from you. It’s about riding through that and finding ways to get the momentum back. Of course we want to start well, we do talk about it and focus on it. Hopefully this weekend (against Scotland at ­Murrayfield) we start better.”

­England’s preparation is also being questioned. In the week of the New Zealand semi-final, it felt like Jones barely put a foot wrong, taking pressure off his players wherever possible. It was clear from the Haka how up for the fight they were, and minutes later Tuilagi was crossing to score.

Jones admitted yesterday that he felt he did not get England’s preparation right last week. “We deliberately had a light preparation for the first Test because I am worried about the players’ workload and I want them to finish at the end of the tournament full of ­running,” he said. “So I have taken a different approach to preparing the team and could have done more for that first game. It was my fault.”

So, how do England fix this on ­Saturday? Jones’s answer is simple: “Good preparation, good focus, good attention to detail.”

If that leads to England starting well, they are on the right track. If not, they have much to prove.

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