Lancaster dodges penalty questions
24 Nov 2012
England coach Stuart Lancaster refused answer for the decision to go for a penalty instead of an attacking lineout when they were a point behind late in the Test against the Springboks.
It was predictably the first question from the English press. The local boys were pretty miffed about the call and desperately wanted an explanation. However, Lancaster wouldn’t be drawn on it, despite being asked numerous times about it in different forms.
‘There will be lots of decisions to review with the generals of this team,’ he said. ‘I’m not going to discuss that decision here directly after the match. On Monday, when the emotion is gone, we’ll discuss it,’ he said.
‘You get some calls right and some wrong, that is part of any side’s development. We back the players and support them. What we don’t do is discuss these things in press conferences.’
When the same question was put to Jean de Villiers, he was a equally guarded. ‘Had they caught the ball and held on from the restart, they could have come into our territory, earned a penalty and won the game. As it turned out it didn’t work out for them. That may happen again in future and they’ll win, then there’ll be no comments.’
There was, however, clear disagreement among the players about the decision, which is something De Villiers said wasn’t healthy. He also admitted that the decision to take the points felt like being let off the hook. ‘It made it a lot easier knowing that we’ll be in their half,’ he said.
Lancaster tried to peddle positive rhetoric, pointing to England’s rebound as one of those. ‘You can’t question the character of this England side. There has been some questions around that in the past. But at 16-6 down, when you have the character to come back in contention against the second best team in the world, that’s hugely impressive.’
12 Comments
24 Nov 2012, 21:31 pm
Maybe they should ask about the 20 or so dodgy penalties that the ref awarded to England which they didn’t deserve in the first place.
25 Nov 2012, 01:24 am
Can’t be easy to answer questions while on the backfoot and a whole peanut gallery waiting to create confusion and sensationalism
25 Nov 2012, 03:02 am
The opening sentence of this article is incorrect. They were 4 points behind when they opted for the kick. It then left them one point behind.
25 Nov 2012, 07:40 am
I suggest they should look at match fixing.
25 Nov 2012, 09:13 am
Simple. They had no faith in their ability to get over the whitewash, and every faith in the fact that the ref would award them a penalty if they held on after the restart and got within range.
Shows you how they regard the bok defence. I’d take it as a compliment and move on.
25 Nov 2012, 09:36 am
It was a tough call cut the way they had been playing and keeping possession I would’ve bet money that if they’d gotten the ball from the kick off they would’ve been back in our 22 in a matter of phases.
The fact that Mouritz Botha , ex saffa, was the one who spilt the ball was more than poetic thoguh
25 Nov 2012, 09:46 am
Last week he didn’t take the penalties and got blasted.
This week he takes the penalties and gets blasted.
Go figure
25 Nov 2012, 10:19 am
@nortierd-7: There is still such a thing as common sense,bud.When he realised his error it was to late.
25 Nov 2012, 10:33 am
@wnbb-8:
He is learning the hard way.
They probably thought they had time to milk another penalty or even set up a drop, but it shows they had no belief that they could score.
25 Nov 2012, 11:36 am
So England opt for a shot at goal.
Why is anyone surprised.
Force of habit.
25 Nov 2012, 19:52 pm
By the way, they were 4 points behind not 1. If they were 1 point behind and would of been the right decision!
Ryan you Nool!
26 Nov 2012, 03:02 am
@cane-10: It reminded me France v NZ 2nd Test in 2006 where Frogs opted to kick a penalty in dying minutes while 8-23 down. Ridiculous.
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