England rugby great Stuart Barnes attacks Red Roses for playing ‘like men’ against Black Ferns

An English rugby icon is relieved the Red Roses lost the World Cup final to the Black Ferns, for the sake of the game.

And he has gone a step further, saying rugby league is showing the way over union in terms of promoting skills the public wants to see.

Former England back Stuart Barnes, writing his regular column for The Times, hit out at the England women for their obsessive use of the rolling maul, even though he said their drive to win was understandable.

Barnes said England possessed skill in the backline but chose not to use it.

“Take the partisan feelings out of what was a turbocharged occasion and the lingering, long-term emotion was, dare I say it, relief,” Barnes wrote, after the Black Ferns’ upset victory at Eden Park.

“England – let no one be in any doubt – were focused on winning this game ugly.

“Four close-range tries are a testimony to the expertise of the forward coaching. Yet let’s not forget, New Zealand rumbled over for a pair of driving lineout tries of their own.

“Does the game really believe matches with six catch-and-drives is the way this sport should be heading?”

Making matters worse, Barnes said many of the penalties that set up driving positions in all rugby involved guesswork by referees, particularly at scrums.

Another big rugby problem was the excessive turnover risk of trying to move the ball out of deep positions.

“[England men’s coach] Eddie Jones explained the excessive negativity of England’s obsessive kicking game in light of this quandary,” he wrote.

“Put simply, it is too risky to lay with the ball in hand. Better to practice your kick-and-chase game. It takes less time than all that passing and running-angle stuff.

“Anyone see the Rugby League World Cup semifinal between Australia and New Zealand? Players spend time working on their skills as opposed to perfecting the all-but-indefensible driving lineout.

“It makes union a duller game, for all the drama of [the World Cup final].”

Barnes suggested a rule change to reduce certain try values: when referees called “drive” any resulting try could not be converted.

“With New Zealand world champions, perhaps the next generation of women players and coaches will dream the sort of dreams that Wayne Smith turns into reality,” he said.

“The women’s game… has an opportunity to freshen up the sport. Wayne Smith rebuilt the Black Ferns within a year. Their modus operandi was to attack from all over. Some of their tries were superlative.

“England, down to 14 women after the early red card for Lydia Thompson, had a reason to keep it tight, but this has been the template for most of the tournament.

“They played like men. For the sake of the sport, I am glad the Black Ferns women prevailed.”