Following Saturday’s Rugby World Cup warm-up matches featuring England and Wales and France and Scotland, here are five things we learnt from the two fixtures.
Warrenball is back
One could criticise a lot about Wales’ performance on Saturday at Twickenham, and Warren Gatland did not shy away from doing so himself.
“I’m furious we didn’t win the game, but it answered a few questions for us about certain individuals,” head coach Gatland said.
“The game management in that final quarter wasn’t good enough. We should have been comfortable.
Gatland-coached sides are also not renowned for playing particularly attractive and entertaining rugby. Instead, they are infamously difficult to break down and defeat.
This trait has been absent from Wales in recent seasons but is slowly creeping back into the side.
In their win over England in Cardiff, they sustained multiple long phases of attack as Steve Borthwick’s side hammered at their line.
The reverse fixture at Twickenham did see Wales concede points while England had just 12 men on the pitch, but again for long periods, Wales were tough to break down.
They applied pressure with their kicking game, making things incredibly uncomfortable for Borthwick’s charges.
Over the two fixtures, England did not score one try from a backline move, with the only five-pointer coming from a driving maul.
While many will think of ‘Warrenball’ as a big centre crashing the ball up before the scrum-half or fly-half hoof the ball into the skies, it is actually more of an attitude of sheer bloody-mindedness to never give in or be defeated.
They were not successful this week, but come the World Cup, expect ‘Warrenball’ to be fully embedded again.
🏴 Liam Williams impressed in defeat at Twickenham. #ENGvWAL
🔢 Check out our Wales player ratings against England 👉 https://t.co/nkGdqXPtXe pic.twitter.com/jS1DONiamS
— Planet Rugby (@PlanetRugby) August 13, 2023
World Cup warm-ups – where dreams are made and crushed
Every four years, we are reminded about just how cruel the sport can be. Some players will train their entire careers for that one opportunity to feature in a Rugby World Cup, only for their dreams to be dashed by an injury and, in some cases, a ban.
Saturday was no different as new Wales captain Dewi Lake was forced off the pitch with a knee injury which may rule him out of his first World Cup.
Meanwhile, Taine Plumtree’s rollercoaster ride to international rugby endured a massive dip when he was forced off with a shoulder injury, and Taine Basham failed an HIA in what was a crucial Rugby World Cup audition.
For England, Jack van Poortvliet was helped off the pitch with what looked like a serious ankle injury, while Owen Farrell could miss a chunk of the tournament with a lengthy suspension.
Matters were equally grim in Saint-Etienne later in the day, with France ace Romain Ntamack and Scotland star Duhan van der Merwe sustaining injuries and being forced off the pitch.
The warm-up matches are essential for preparing sides for the tournament and allowing players the opportunity to make a late claim for a spot in the final 33.
But on the flip side, it also produces heartbreaking moments for many who have their dreams crushed.
Back to basics for England
There are undoubtedly still some teething problems following the handover from Eddie Jones to Borthwick at England Rugby.
Borthwick has named his Rugby World Cup squad, and while he will be pleased that his side defeated Wales on Saturday, there are still plenty of concerns about the team’s performance.
One of the biggest worries is that the England pack, Borthwick’s forte, is yet to perform consistently. The forwards did show up when it mattered to secure the win, and while Ben Earl impressed in his first start, the standouts were few and far between.
Meanwhile, the backline was error-ridden and lacked cohesion and accuracy, not what you’d expect from the most experienced matchday squad England have ever named.
There was a clearer picture of what England are trying to achieve with their kicking-led tactics but to have any success in that regard, the basics of holding onto the ball and getting over the gain line is paramount.
🏴🏴 England edge Wales despite FOUR cards!#RWC2023 #ENGvWAL pic.twitter.com/GEEbi8inVN
— Planet Rugby (@PlanetRugby) August 12, 2023
Scotland can mix it with the best
The fans at Saint-Etienne were treated to a marvellous spectacle of two sides going hammer and tongs at one another.
While a good chunk of the France players needed the fixture to shake off some of the cobwebs and get back to match fitness, a stacked Les Bleus is no easy opponent.
Gregor Townsend’s side rose to the challenge of the imposing French pack, and when they had opportunities to get back into the game, they took them.
While the win over a mostly second-string France side last week wouldn’t have sounded the alarm bells for Scotland’s heavyweight World Cup pool stage contenders, Ireland and South Africa, the narrow defeat to a full-strength side will.
Shortly after half-time, Scotland were facing the possibility of a thrashing as they trailed the hosts 27-10, but they relentlessly fought their way back into the fixture through tries from Van der Merwe, Rory Darge and Kyle Steyn.
🏴 Scotland hit back and are now in striking distance! #FRASCOpic.twitter.com/SEts9KHucf
— Planet Rugby (@PlanetRugby) August 12, 2023
The Scots lost by just three points, with mercurial fly-half Finn Russell having a major influence on attack but also leaving four points out there with his misses.
Townsend’s charges outscored Fabien Galthie’s men with four tries to three, with Thomas Ramos’ accuracy from the tee and Charles Ollivon’s sheer class seeing them over the line.
The TMO bunker can work
At Twickenham on Saturday, we saw one of World Rugby’s new initiatives to speed up the game in action on two occasions.
The TMO bunker allows referees the option of issuing a yellow card and send incidents to be reviewed by the TMO, who can then upgrade the yellow to a red card.
We saw this in action in the 59th minute on Saturday when Freddie Steward collided with an airborne Josh Adams near the England try-line.
Referee Nika Amashukeli issued the yellow card, and his officiating team then reviewed the incident and decided that it only warranted a 10-minute visit to the sin bin.
While the decision did take some time, as the officials checked the grounding of Liam Williams’ potential try, it was still a relatively swift process.
The same process was followed when Owen Farrell landed a high tackle on Wales’ flanker Taine Basham later in the game.
A spat between Dan Biggar and Farrell led to a scuffle between the players that delayed the decision, but again, it was still swift and accurate as Amashukeli sent the England skipper to the naughty chair.
This time, the bunker upgraded the yellow card to a red as Farrell watched the rest of the match from the sidelines.
This Owen Farrell ‘tackle’ has a 6-week ban and a place on WR’s site as an example of a dangerous tackle written all over it… pic.twitter.com/U46FhioLsq
— Jared Wright (@jaredwright17) August 13, 2023
While one can argue that Steward’s actions were deserving of a red card, ultimately, the reasoning behind the TMO bunker was relatively successful at Twickenham.
There certainly are some chinks that need to be ironed out, and hopefully will be by the time the World Cup kicks off, but the signs are promising.
READ MORE: Two Cents Rugby ranks the five biggest shock calls in this year’s Rugby World Cup squads
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