OPINION: A great captain and a shrewd coach will take a good team a long way towards winning a Rugby World Cup. England were seriously lacking in both against Wales at the weekend and it cost them the match. Sadly, dumb and dumber would describe the sizeable contribution of Chris Robshaw and Stuart Lancaster to their team's idiotic defeat.

It is a shame because both are good men, but if you choose to take the riches and the glory that come with top level professional sport, then you also have to take the criticism when it is deserved. England lost because of terrible selections before and after the match, inadequate preparation, appalling discipline and misguided decision-making.

Let's start with all the poor decisions made by Lancaster. The bloke cannot make up his mind. Sam Burgess and Brad Barritt, the starting centres against Wales, were Lancaster's 14th different combination. Their inexperience cost England 10 points.

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The All Blacks build partnerships. Lancaster builds confusion. The All Blacks don't shift their starting 10's into the defensive firing line when they make replacements, they put them at fullback to control territory and the counter-attack.



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Burgess got skinned on the outside at the end of the first half, a defensive lapse that cost three points. In the heat of the second half, Barritt, who is a 12 by trade, pushed up hard when he only had to hold and drift, an inexperienced blunder that Conrad Smith or Malakai Fekitoa would not have made. And by the way, when Wales scored that try, where was Jonny May, the covering wing? Loafing and ball-watching he was catastrophically slow to cover across.

Lancaster and Robshaw have to take joint blame for England's disgraceful indiscipline. They gave away 21 points in breakdown penalties and only one of those penalties, at a stretch, was conceded when England were under the pump. Wales gave away nine points in breakdown penalties and two of those penalties probably helped save tries.

In the first 90 seconds of the game, Tom Youngs and then Courtney Lawes were penalised for not rolling away. Three points to Wales. How is this for stupidity and bad preparation. England played Wales in the Six Nations under the same referee, Jerome Garces. In the first minute of that match, Wales kicked a goal when May was penalised for not rolling away.

Do they not learn or prep the referee beforehand? Warren Gatland clearly had his team prepared. Wales rolled away as if their lives depended on it. Even Lancaster called his team dumb. You have to play the referee. One of the reasons the current All Blacks team is so reluctant to attack the ball at the breakdown is that, good as they are with turnover ball, they still don't reckon that penalty risk equates to reward.

One of the best decisions of Gatland's career was to make Sam Warburton captain. What a contrast in leadership there was at the weekend. When England infringed yet again at the breakdown, Warburton said to Garces, politely and respectfully, "That's six times they've done that now. Recurring theme. I know you've given us a penalty but it's happened a lot."

When Wales again went seven points down again in the second half, Warburton gathered his men around and said, "We've got them. Look at them, they're blowing." He then led by example, smashing two of England's front-row replacements back off their feet.

In contrast, when England were awarded yet another scrum penalty Robshaw did not point out that it was a recurring theme. He does bulldog well enough, like when he refused to lead his men out of the tunnel earlier this year. But on the field, Robshaw operates in grunts and is unable to befriend refs. The trouble for Lancaster and England is who else is there? It is a team that is seriously short of leaders.

The finish to the game exposed all of England's fault-lines. Clive Woodward observed after the match, "Rugby at this exalted level starts with 20 minutes to go."

England stopped with 20 minutes to go. They lost the final 30 minutes 16-3. The replacements they brought on were another indictment of Lancaster's selection abilities. Richard Wigglesworth is not an impact player so why pick him. James Haskell is a rugby-illiterate gym bunny. Owen Farrell, a justified initial choice, was running the game so why bring on George Ford and lose your defensive shape when you had control?

It all culminated in the mistakes that led to the Wales try and that fateful decision not to kick a goal. Why was the captain calling a meeting? Give Farrell the ball and tell him he's the best pressure kicker in the world. Instead Robshaw went for the corner, despite the fact that Wales had previously smashed back an England attempt to roll over from a lineout.



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Robshaw made the same error in one of his first games as captain. Seemingly he does not learn. I still think England may beat Australia, but Robshaw needs to wise up fast.

Woodward blames Lancaster. He says these scenarios should all be thought out beforehand and planned for so you are not making crucial decisions under stress. He said, "It was a collective error that may haunt them for the rest of their lives."

Gatland said, "I thought England would have gone for goal and got the draw. Get it right and you are a hero. Get it wrong and you are zero.'

That is about the number of wheels left on England's chariot. Poorly built and badly driven it is hurtling out of control.