England drops the ball on the world stage
After a week of sporting disappointments, sports reporter Jordan Jarrett-Bryan says there doesn’t seem to be any real middle ground with our national rugby union, cricket and football teams.
Our national sports teams are capable of making us the kings of their sport (the latter, granted, hasn’t happened since 1966) or the laughing stock of the world, writes Jordan Jarrett-Bryan.
The England rugby union side’s greatest triumph came in 2003 when Johnny Wilkinson’s famous kick from way out secured the World Cup.
Our cricket team have had more recent success, last year regaining the Ashes from Australia for the first time in 16 years. And, well, the football team – you know the score.
But in the last week we have seen all three sides show signs of lack of grit and failing to grab opportunities to claim victory.
Take the autumn rugby union internationals. Last weekend, England were beaten by New Zealand at Twickenham. Yes, we know the All Blacks are the best side in the world, but having clawed back a first half deficit and taken the lead, England needed to show guts and bottle, not just skill and strength.
But they were out-thought as well as out-powered, and left licking their wounds. By no means an embarrassing loss, but one that was avoidable.
Either side of that loss, we saw the England football team lose, first to Chile and then to arch-rivals Germany. Again, Chile are no mugs, 12th in the Fifa rankings, and Germany are one of the favourites to win next year’s World Cup.
But it is hard to believe that England are that much behind those two nations, in terms of ability.
So how many tournaments have to go by before we see England even looking like a real contender for a major honour? It has got to come down to a mental toughness. We cannot have been technically that bad at every World Cup and European Championship since 1966.
And then, on Thursday night, in the cricket. What was that all about? After an amazing day one in Brisbane, England lost the plot on day two. And unlike the other two teams, England are thought actually to be superior to their opponents.
We do have some world-class athletes from these shores, including Gareth Bale, Andy Murray and Rory McIlroy. Hang on, though… Welsh, Scottish and Irish. Oh dear.