Former England and British and Irish Lions midfield back Jeremy Guscott says it is New Zealand's ability to consistently perform under extreme pressure and expectation that makes them the best.
Guscott wrote in The Rugby Paper that after seeing The
Rugby Championship decider against South Africa he wondered what chance England
had of beating the All Blacks again next month.
"Last
autumn England beat them in one of the best games I've ever seen England play.
It was a near all round performance, one that if we are brutally honest the
team haven't come close to matching since," he said.
Guscott
wondered how the English could fall from those heights to nearly losing to
Italy and then being outgunned in the Six Nations decider.
"If
anything the players will have been better prepared and more experienced, yet
they couldn't back up the performance of four months earlier.
"If
you've done it once, why don't you want to keep on doing it? Why do you
suddenly stop putting in performances like that?"
While
the All Blacks were No.1 in the world, England had a formula to beat them and
having done it once they should be able to do it again, he said.
"The
big difference being between the best, and the consistently best – i.e. New
Zealand – is their ability to mentally tune-in to perform under the extreme
pressure and expectation," he wrote.
And
when New Zealand replaced a player through injury or form, the incoming player
fitted in like clockwork.
England
by comparison had players available at first and second fives who played
completely different styles.
"Expecting
a team to be consistent and effective when you have big differences in style,
approach and mentality is pie in the sky," Guscott said.
"New
Zealand have a much more effective pattern than England, and everyone else,
because whether, Dan Carter, Aaron Cruden or Beauden Barrett play fly-half, the
pattern is pretty much the same, even though each of them might execute it
slightly differently.
"The
differences in the playing styles of the top teams in the Aviva Premiership
make it very difficult every time the England squad go into camp – whereas in
New Zealand, with a more centralised system, and all the provincial coaches
using the All Black pattern, it is much easier," he said.
It was
in selecting a side to take on the All Blacks next month that England's coaches
faced big problems in the personnel decisions to play a game capable of
upsetting the All Blacks again. And there was no guarantee that one of the key
performers in that win, Owen Farrell, would be included in this year's side.
Guscott
wondered if whoever was chosen could reach the heights of last year against an
All Black team which had put five tries past the Springboks on Ellis Park.
