England ‘will come back stronger’

LAWRENCE DALLAGLIO took stock of England’s demise during their demoralising southern hemisphere tour, but vowed: “We shall rebuild and come back a much stronger side.”

The battered world champions flew home yesterday from a trip too far, with their ludicrously long 44-week season finally over.

Two Tests against the All Blacks in New Zealand and a World Cup final rematch with Australia predictably proved too tough a task for players who, mentally and physically, were running on empty.

The stark statistics are that England conceded 123 points and 14 tries on those travels to Dunedin, Auckland and Brisbane an average scoreline of 41-10 against them.

Seven months after beating Australia to win the World Cup, England were on the receiving end of a major Wallabies backlash, being outscored 6-2 on tries in a 51-15 mauling as wing Clyde Rathbone crossed three times, replacement hooker Jeremy Paul touched down twice and Lote Tuqiri scored a stunning solo effort.

With Wallabies full-back Joe Roff booting 21 points, England were condemned to suffering their heaviest defeat for six years, a second-heaviest against Australia and fourth in succession against all opponents, equalling coach Clive Woodward's worst results sequence since he took charge in September, 1997.

"If we are being brutally honest, in light of the schedule, not just this year but last year, that this England team have faced and the players have faced domestically, it probably wasn't the most sensible move," said skipper Dallaglio, assessing England's latest expedition Down Under.

"But, saying that, it has been pencilled in for a while now and you have got to try and get on with it the best you can.

"We haven't played like world champions, but the team is very different. We have to take stock of what has happened, put the necessary things in place which include rest, getting guys fit, getting guys motivated again and getting guys very competitive.

"The team that won the World Cup is a team that took a long time to come, three or four years to develop, and a lot of investment on and off the pitch.

"That team went through some pretty bad defeats in the northern and southern hemispheres but it grew in trust, it grew in confidence, it grew in ability and that culminated in what happened in Sydney last November.

"This team has to go through a bit of that process and pain we have experienced in the last three weeks, and we shall rebuild and come back a much stronger side."

Meanwhile, Wales coach Mike Ruddock believes that with "a bit of work" his side can challenge the world's best despite having conceded 50 points to South Africa in their one-off Test on Saturday.

Ruddock is beginning the post-mortem of a tour which included defeats at the hands of both Argentina and the Springboks.

But the straight-talking coach is not one to get down easily.

Even though his side were well beaten by a clearly stronger Springbok outfit, Ruddock reckons the tour has been a massive learning curve and will be of benefit in the future.

"We may have conceded 50 points, but it isn't something to worry about," he said.

"We will return home and I have some ideas of some new structures and to look at some different plans for the future."

"Just sitting here and talking, I have some ideas for a new attacking style and we will have to decide how to phase that in. Other than that we had a lack of composure at points in these Tests and we need to work on that.

"Our defensive structure gave some good moments and we need to retain parts of that.

"But these are the sort of things you learn on tours. After all, it isn't how you fall, but how you stand up from the fall."

Ruddock has a lot of hard work ahead of him before the two sides meet again in the autumn, but refuses to be downbeat.

Elsewhere, former South African coach Nick Mallett bade farewell to French rugby in grand style on Saturday as his Stade Francais side retained the national title when destroying Perpignan 38-20.

For Italy kicking great Diego Dominguez it was also a red letter day in his final match, as the diminutive Argentine-born fly-half kicked 23 points before being replaced in the 55th minute.