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2015年11月20日
England ended this year's Six Nations with 18 tries, nine more than anyone else. Despite that, the key men in that system and then the attacking philosophy that bound them was jettisoned when Wales and Australia came calling.
Lancaster had been seen as the antitheses of predecessor Martin Johnson: one a big name but never before a coach, the other an outsider who had coached his way up from the grassroots.
It was inaccurate and ultimately misleading. Lancaster was both an RFU insider (he had been head of elite player development as long ago as 2008) and desperately short of experience at the very highest level. Never before had he been to a match in South Africa, at the Millennium Stadium nor the Stade de France.
The hope was he could both learn on the job and surround himself with experts. Initially he appeared to have done just that. Andy Farrell brought an aura and enviable playing record from rugby league and a promising start at Saracens, Mike Catt enormous World Cup experience, Graham Rowntree the endorsement of the previous regime and Lions .
Compared to those he was up against, it was still raw material. Lancaster had one season in the Premiership with Leeds behind him. Warren Gatland came to the World Cup having coached Connacht, Ireland, Wasps and Waikato and with two Grand Slams and a World Cup semi-final to his name with Walesreenex.
Lancaster had been seen as the antitheses of predecessor Martin Johnson: one a big name but never before a coach, the other an outsider who had coached his way up from the grassroots.
It was inaccurate and ultimately misleading. Lancaster was both an RFU insider (he had been head of elite player development as long ago as 2008) and desperately short of experience at the very highest level. Never before had he been to a match in South Africa, at the Millennium Stadium nor the Stade de France.
The hope was he could both learn on the job and surround himself with experts. Initially he appeared to have done just that. Andy Farrell brought an aura and enviable playing record from rugby league and a promising start at Saracens, Mike Catt enormous World Cup experience, Graham Rowntree the endorsement of the previous regime and Lions .
Compared to those he was up against, it was still raw material. Lancaster had one season in the Premiership with Leeds behind him. Warren Gatland came to the World Cup having coached Connacht, Ireland, Wasps and Waikato and with two Grand Slams and a World Cup semi-final to his name with Walesreenex.
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