Is this England’s most exciting World Cup ever?

If someone had given me the squad list for this year’s World Cup, four years ago on the eve of the former one, I don’t know what I would have said.

Maybe I would have been unsurprised at all the unfamiliar or outside bet names given how poor things looked back then, maybe I would have been astounded to see so many Exeter and Saracens players in the squad, maybe I would have been pleased for players to have been given a chance. Ultimately though, I would have been excited. 

Before 2007, a World Cup in which, remarkably, we actually excelled, it would be difficult to argue this sense of anticipation and excitement was prevalent. Yes, true, there was a nervousness, but it was built on the adrenalin of fear – Brian Ashton’s inclusions based on experience rather than form or merit and their average age was higher even than the Dad’s Army of 2003. Despite the rise to the final, the only real moment of the nation coming together behind the national side was the incredible dismantling of the Australian scrum – the rest of the time a fug of disbelief and a sense of inevitability hung over us. By the time Mark Cueto was being tortured by the video ref, it was too late – the World Cup had slipped past us, disillusioned as we were from the very start, unable to really feel like we were supporting the side we should have been. 

In 2003 we won a Grand Slam, and had beaten the Boks, the All Blacks and the Wallabies at the start of the season in 2002. We were, in most people’s eyes, favourites. Excitement reigned – this was the year of Jonny, the team of heroes; most rugby fans could probably name a 2003 era starting line-up with very little difficulty. The thing is we all knew we should really have won – and maybe if Ben Kay hadn’t dropped the ball over the line the fairytale ending may not have happened and it may not have been quite the World Cup it was for England. We followed everything with excitement and fervour, but in reality, it was always the World Cup we should have won. It would have been a turn-up for the books if we didn’t. We were excited, and every English rugby fan knows where they were when those three points went over, but ultimately it was a real sense of destiny being fulfilled, rather than genuine unknown. 

I watched England get knocked out in 2011 in a staff room at a school I was working at before I supervised the Under 15 Cs rugby match. All the other school rugby staff were there, and we were all not particularly bothered. It is a sad way to remember Martin Johnson, but most of us remember the man who roared as he lifted the Webb Ellis Trophy, and looked like a Kray Twin crony with his fingers covered in tape. The squad were clearly not getting along, players were unjustifiably picked and younger players were overlooked. The fact that the inquiry into the failure was so extensive, so secret and also so very controversial shows just how much of a rotten campaign it was. It was also a real shame to see quite a few players with excellent careers and reputations finish their international glories in that way. 

This year, something different is in the air. New Zealand haven’t won the Rugby Championship but are easily the best side in the world on paper. Wales have been inconsistent, but still look dangerous. Australia look like they are peaking at exactly the right time, Argentina have beaten South Africa, who in turn are currently a team of superhumans. Ireland could genuinely have the necessary guile and brute strength to win, even without BOD. France look like when things go right they could beat anyone. Even the smaller nations look like they could cause an upset – Scotland continually threaten to gel and unleash an excellent backline, Italy have finally found a variety of decent half-backs and Samoa’s squad becomes increasingly full of genuine contenders. 

Most important, however, is England’s shape. 

We have actually had arguments, debates, articles, spats, discussions and rants about squad selection as a genuinely rugby-based thing. “Who should play in the centres?” You know what? Burgess or Burrell, we all had something to say, and we all saw the merits of the other contender, and some of us (including this humble correspondent) simply didn’t know which way one should go. Should Cipriani be in the squad? Miraculously, we all agreed that it wasn’t really down to whether he should be, more could be, based on who else got selected. The fact is though, that the entire rugby public is behind the squad, positive about the coach, the players (most of them) and the set-up. And the World Cup is being played on English soil. Here we have a coaching setup that gets it both right and wrong but is always searching for the answer positively, a team of young players led by a captain who doesn’t always appear to be the best in his position (although the ‘stats’ that everyone loves really do point at Robshaw being the best 7 in the Premiership… (he said dangerously)) but who totally gives his all for every second of every game. That, you may say, is something that every one of us would do – but let’s face it, not every England player has always given his all for the shirt. Especially in the last World Cup. Oh, and you know what? I am going to say this very quietly – no-one has mentioned Manu Tuilagi for a very, very long time.  

Ultimately, the current event always feels the most exciting, the most drama-laden, because it is happening right now. But in this World Cup the English fans will be looking to Lancaster and his selections, and the performances of the team. That is what we will be watching - the rugby. And it is on a squad that we feel invested in that we will be pinning our hopes. 

Filed under: Rugby World Cup, England
Written by: Peter Randall
Follow: @uxbridgewolf · @therugbymag