England’s ‘boot’ now anything but boring
Kicks out of hand cause havoc to opposition as England notch 10 tries in two matches
For decades sniffy southern hemisphere rugby fans have belittled England’s achievements for being merely “biff and boot” as if penalties and drop goals were not worthy ways of winning when set alongside the supposedly superior quest for tries. Now the boot is still doing the damage, but it is no longer off the tee and instead it’s kicks out of hand that are wreaking havoc and getting the fans out of their seats, as their two hugely impressive opening Six Nations wins have shown. Sunday’s 44-8 demolition of France took their try count to 10 in two matches following the opening win in Dublin, and the majority of those scores have been created by the deft kicking of England’s backs, led as always by Owen Farrell. England kicked out of hand 49 times on Sunday but there was none of the aimless “aerial tennis” that fans find so frustrating. Instead, there were a series of weighted grubbers and chips, usually designed for hat-trick winger Jonny May to scuttle after, and a fusillade of test...
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