England star Tommy Freeman has shed light on the major defensive changes England have made this Six Nations following their 26-25 victory over France.
Defence has been a major talking point for England in recent months, the arrival of Joe El-Abd and the subsequent departure of former Springboks coach Felix Jones.
Tommy Freeman details major England defensive changes
Under Jones, England adopted an incredibly aggressive blitz defence, with the likes of Henry Slade and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso thriving off it, however, they couldn’t replicate this under El-Abd during the autumn.
England missed an average of 28.3 tackles across their three Tier 1 Tests against the All Blacks, Wallabies and Springboks, however, it seems they have made some solid progress in defence this Six Nations.
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Whilst still focusing on line speed and putting their opponents under pressure, England have tamed the blitz a touch and are getting success off the back of it. They are currently sitting at an average of 25.5 tackles in their opening two games of the Championship, and in both of their Tests against Ireland and France, they posted fewer missed tackles than their opponents.
England also ended the game with higher tackle counts as well.
When asked by Planet Rugby what the major difference is between the current system under Joe El-Abd and that which they deployed under Felix Jones last year, Freeman quipped “My lungs!”
But, on a more serious note, the Northampton winger detailed they are now recognising when and where they can go hard and when to just hold their connection.
“That blitz defence is 20 metres running up and getting back onside each time, and the rewards off the back of it were very good sometimes,” he said. “But with this system, we still want to be aggressive and take space away but yet we can recognise that when we’re numbers down we’ve got to do our best to stay connected and create something for us.”
On top of statistical improvements, the work from the midfield and outside backs division is particularly noticeable from the autumn. Against France, the combination of Henry Slade, Ollie Lawrence, Ollie Sleightholme and Freeman made a total of 17 tackles for just six missed, and that played a pivotal role in forcing France into consistent errors.
Commenting on this, Freeman said: “Our defence has grown over the years, we were a pretty aggressive defence previously and got some reward off the back of it, but the players we’ve got and the pace we’ve got this defence suits us as we can cover as much ground as we can even when numbers down.”
He added: “Us wingers and outside backs work as best we can to put them under pressure.”
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/england-tommy-freeman-details-defensive-growth-as-new-system-suits-backline
