INTERNATIONAL TEST Australia 27 England 17:IT IS now two years and 22 Test matches since Martin Johnson was handed the job as England's team manager. In that time the national side have won only eight times and been victorious abroad just once in a truly dire Six Nations contest against a deeply average Italy. Like a gushing oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, the toxic results just keep on coming.
With New Zealand, Australia, Samoa and South Africa all heading to Twickenham this autumn, Johnson is accelerating towards the point of no return.
It is not a totally lost cause. England have the most promising young prop in the world in Dan Cole, a reliable scourge of callow opposition. Ben Youngs, Ben Foden and Chris Ashton are all made of the right stuff, Tom Croft is a respected Test Lion and Andrew Sheridan, Tom Rees and Matt Mullan are all sitting at home.
Serious doubts, for a start, exist as to whether the England management are doing more than leading the squad ever deeper into the quicksands of mediocrity. Johnson has struggled as a visionary selector from day one, but the biggest frustration is the number of players who are failing to develop in an England shirt.
How much longer will it be before someone in a position of influence makes the link between the obsessive pre-game kicking practice of Jonny Wilkinson and Toby Flood and the creative desert that is the English midfield?
How long before Johnson bangs his fist and asks why so few forwards exude the passion he does? Those close to him say he is fully aware results have to improve soon. His loyalty to his assistants, though, is such he would instinctively prefer to take the rap rather than sack his mates.
Scrummaging Australia into the ground and doing precious little around the park for a second week running is not an option.
Lewis Moody looks weary and Nick Easter’s place is also in jeopardy, particularly on hard, fast grounds. What is the harm in seeing how Jon Golding, Rob Webber, Steffon Armitage, Dan Ward-Smith, Youngs, Shane Geraghty, Olly Barkley and even Dominic Waldouck respond to the test of character which awaits?
This Wallabies team are maturing rapidly, their whole-hearted defence and knife-sharp running rendering their acute scrum problems almost irrelevant.
Quade Cooper, scorer of two sweet tries, is an irresistible pivot and a fit Will Genia and Matt Giteau will hope to turn the screw further under Rocky Elsom’s strong, silent leadership. Unless they can summon up dynamism, England risk another Rocky-inspired horror show.
Guardian Service
