Damn, damn, damn, I really thought that was it - no more false dawns, no more shattered dreams, no more having to hark back to the glory days of November 2003 and a team full of grizzled leaders who knew how to get the job done under the greatest pressure. The Six Nations 2019 and those first two England games were promising so much and I was dreaming all over again of the glories to come, but then the Sweet Chariot crossed the Severn bridge into Wales and the wheels came off………….
Hugely well done to Wales - you guys deserved the win and we have nothing to complain about. No dodgy refereeing decisions, we had plenty of our best players on the field, and if you ask me, England choked. To go from two such impressive kicking displays especially to what happened on Saturday smacks of not being able to properly cope with the situation, and of course Wales and that canny Kiwi Gatland were immense in how they just didn’t allow us to play the game we so obviously wanted to play. After the Ireland and France games I really thought that we were thinking clearly on our feet and managing the game plans with some really clever heads up rugby, but Saturday in Cardiff has shattered that illusion yet again. Where was our Plan B?
Is it back to square one for England? Please, please don’t let that be the case, but the mighty 2003 team simply had to win the Grand Slam in their World Cup year, and they did so. Our 2019 team obviously hasn’t done so, and whilst I genuinely believe that no team on earth could have lived with us when we played Ireland a few weeks ago, performing consistently under pressure is surely the key for this World Cup year especially - and once again we have so nearly summited the peak but failed just when it really mattered. Wales, you deserved that win completely, and please rest assured that I am typing this blog post this morning with a cup of coffee at my side plus a great big helping of humble pie. We were stuffed, end of. Christ alive it’s a hard one being an England rugby supporter……….