Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics

Just when you think things can't get any worse, a match like that comes along.

We were told that the English team were "up for the fight". Er, no. Not on last night's evidence.
I will get onto the technical deficiencies in a bit, but first of all, where was the fight, the muscle, the backyard dog attitude? Nowhere to be seen.

For the 3rd time in a year, (Croke Park, Cardiff and now Paris) this team has been bullied from the start. It's a national disgrace, and the coaching staff and in particular Wells and Ashton need to look at themselves and ask "How can this be?" I could bear the indignity of the 2nd half in Marseilles because we were agressive, albeit stupid. But last night was shameful - just shameful.

My deepest sympathies to the thousands of fans who put their hands in their pockets and shelled out for tickets. You were robbed by the RFU, who should offer them all a refund, or at the very least apologise. but don't hold your breath.

So that was the frst lie. that England were up for the fight.

The second lie and more damnable one will be when someone in the RFU (Francis Baron perhaps) points the finger at the clubs for the blame for England's collapse - and they will, just wait. Utter balls, the finalists from the Heineken Cup, Europe's premier club competition were? Leicester and Wasps. And the Wasps, who won by the way Mr Baron, had 13 Englishmen, and just one Irishman and the French captain in their starting XV. And just who organised the tour of South Africa to clash with the H Cup Final? It wasn't the clubs.

Statistics also lie, yet there is a worrying trend among coaches and some analysts to suggest that statistics can tell us something about a game. Just for the record look at this....
England had more possession 61%; more territory 62%; missed fewer tackles, 7 against 11; beat more defenders, 10 to 8; kicked less, 33 times to 44; forced SA to make almost twice as many tackles, 97 to 51; made more carries, 93 to 50; more offloads, 14 against 6; and looking just at the stats, should have won the game.

RUBBISH! We were second best from the start , never looked like scoring and were lucky to get Nil. When your scrum half takes a precious bit of turnover ball, swivels and kicks it directly into touch, you know the decision making is woeful. Similarly, when the 2nd row has a 2 against 2 twenty yards out, with his winger outside him and goes for the chip kick through. (How can he even think of that? Do they practice this at Leicester? I think not) These are things which should have been coached out of 13 year olds, never mind professional international players. Its scandalous.

Still, roll on Samoa next week - or as they must now be called - Sarr Mower.