Good win by a confident England team with a clear game plan. They'll be very happy campers and rightly so. This NZ team on the other hand don't look very happy or cohesive. It's not the loss that's the issue, it's that I have no idea what game plan they were trying to execute and nor did NZ by the looks of it. They clearly wanted to go through the phases, but they seemed to lack any plan beyond hit it up and rely on some individual skill out wide. The only time they looked motivated and hungry was in the last 4 minutes when the game was over. This has been the biggest issue with NZ the entire time Razor has been in charge. We don't have a tactical identity or any kind of confidence or composure. We can score off set plays and individual brilliance, our defence is usually good enough to keep the scoreline close, and every now and then we flatter to deceive by putting a beautiful team try together. But the rest of the time we just kind of purposelessly fumble around and wait for something to happen. ABs teams of the past, even the disappointing ones under late-stage Hansen and Foster, did not do that. They tried to play with purpose and control games. We don't ever look like we're in control of any game for longer than 10 minutes.   submitted by   /u/anxiousatac [link]   [comments]