The UK media have slammed the lack of skill shown by the Six Nations sides after the European teams missed out on the World Cup semifinals.
After years of looking down at Super Rugby the British rugby press have called for a radical overhaul of the way the Six Nations sides approach the game following their disastrous display at the Rugby World Cup.
Ireland's 43-20 defeat to Argentina and Scotland's controversial 35-34 loss to Australia in Monday's quarterfinals meant for the first time in the tournament's history there would be no northern hemisphere teams in the semifinals. And, unsurprisingly, it has not gone down well with the local media.
Super Rugby has often been derided in the north as all style and no substance; too much focus on throwing the ball around rather than the traditional pillars of set-piece and the breakdown.
Ireland coach Joe Schmidt praises the power and pace of Argentina in their 43-20 win in the Rugby World Cup quarterfinals.
But it is clearly doing something right as the southern hemisphere super powers have eclipsed their northern rivals.
And the critics in the UK agree that until they emphasise skill over strength, the Six Nations teams will never bridge the gap with New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and now Argentina.
Writing for The Telegraph, Paul Hayward bemoaned the lack of attacking enterprise shown by the European nations and said next year's Six Nations would feel like a "second-tier competition".
"This tournament is being played in European conditions, remember, but the Europeans are all at sea: injured, en masse, or undone by southern creativity," he wrote.
"At least England can hide in this pack a bit. The embarrassment is shared more widely now. But until the European countries shift from brawn to brain there will be no redress. The victors at this World Cup have been speed and accuracy of execution. Or, in a word: skills."
Hayward added that as much as Scotland could feel hard done by after referee Craig Joubert's contentious decision to penalise them for offside in the last minute - which gifted the Wallabies victory - it was their own lack of execution which cost them the game.
"Northern inferiority was consistent throughout," he said.
In The Times under the headline "Europeans sink to lowest ebb in history", former England lock Paul Ackford claimed matches are no longer controlled by the side with the best set-piece and it's about time those up north caught on.
"For years we have looked down our noses at the Super Rugby competition. Too fluffy was the usual comment, a candy floss confection that pays scant attention to the important nuts and bolts of the game, namely the scrummage, breakdown and lineout," Ackford said. "Well, my dears, that may have been true of the previous World Cup cycle, but no longer.
"Yesterday's Twickenham battle was, in part, Scotland's scrum against the Wallaby lineout. But the contest at this World Cup is more fluid, more quixotic than it has ever been. There is more ball-in-play time. Tries, not goalkickers, are the currency that has largely decided the quarterfinals. The paradigm has shifted.
"If the top European nations are serious about challenging their rivals down under, they need to focus on athleticism and a set of basic individual skills."
Also in The Times, former England first-five Stuart Barnes urged the European nations to look to Argentina, who have evolved from a forward-based team to one that can to adapt to any style since joining the Rugby Championship three years ago.
Ex-England fullback Mark Cueto, however, does not believe it's time to hit the panic button just yet but watched on with envy at the skill level of the New Zealand and Australian players.
"Just look at the way the replacement Kiwi prop, Joe Moody, threw a dummy pass, went through a gap and then flicked the ball out of the back of his hand to set up a try for Tawera Kerr-Barlow," Cueto wrote in ESPNScrum.com. "That's ridiculous, and we can't compete with that level. The only team that can is Australia."
- Stuff
