There are some very interesting insights from that video…which must have taken weeks to prepare.
I’ve softened my approach to Farrell recently….but I think he needs Smith as a counter-balance.
If the two of them can work together and play heads up rugby, things could get more exciting.
However, the one thing that strikes me by all that analysis is just how much the players’ brains must get blitzed over a short training camp of a few days.
They’re effectively been given a whole new playbook to learn, away from their clubs.
You can see why the likes of Umaga, Robson, Paulo etc have come back to the club at times…and have got way too much going on in their heads, looking rather shell-shocked.
Finding it hard to adapt back to a slightly more simplified version of the game.
I don’t know if Eddie’s obsessive way of attacking can peak over a few weeks in 2023. But it must be exhausting to be around at the training camp, that level of detail.
Yes, it takes a lot to win internationally. But is Eddie trying to be almost too clever?
And there seem to be years where the fans have to watch drivel as he’s stirring his magic potion in the background.
It’s almost as if he doesn’t want anyone else to know what’s going on…other than for the knockout stages every 4 years.
And yet this is an entertainment business.
So, from my point of view…England seem to be driven purely by Eddie’s (ego-driven) desire to win ‘his’ World Cup…and damned to the fans that pay all the money for 95% of the rest of the time.
I don’t know. Yes, it would be great to hold aloft the Cup.
But boy, it feels quite a turgid 4 years for everybody trying to get there.