The England Saxons have successfully lifted the Churchill Cup after romping to a win over Canada in the final in New Jersey.
The competition is a chance for a few of the weaker countries in global rugby to gain some exposure and play each other in order to improve. The Saxons ultimately held the advantage because they have a number of players who play in the English Premiership and other competitive teams in Europe.
The side showed great dominance in many different areas and the coach of the full England team, Martin Johnson, is likely to take note of a few of the key performances as England continue their tout of the Southern Hemisphere.
The Saxons can now enjoy their victory before they review how they played as a team through each individual game of the event. This will allow them to look at any areas of weakness, if any, ahead of future competitions with the likes of Canada, the United States and Russia.
Too Good
The main reason as to why the Saxons won and are a team to back in future events is because they were just too good in many different areas. Their fitness was key during matches with big sides like the Russians and this allowed them to score points late on in games.
They were also a bit quicker on the field because of the pace that rugby is played at in England. This allowed attacking players to get forward quicker and allowed Saxon players to move the ball out to the wide areas before the defence of the opposition could react.
The Saxons do have some very good coaches and this would have been important in terms of tactics with each match. The coaches in the team would have been able to see opposition attacks developing from the side of the field and they could relay these instructions to the team.
The Future
The future is very bright for the England Saxons and they will probably be the favourites heading into any competition that they are involved in. The problem is being able to maintain a group of clearly gifted and enthusiastic players.
The English rugby season will start up again at some point in the near future and this will force many players back to their club sides. Some club sides are very reluctant to release players unless they are playing for the full England team. The Saxons have been fortunate in the respect that the Churchill Cup has fallen over a time period where no domestic clubs are playing games.
The side will also lose one or two players to this full international team. Although many will not reflect on the Saxons’ victory that intensely, there would have been a few players that Martin Johnson may want to look at. This will force them away from the Saxons side and ultimately make them slightly weaker.
Betting Advice
The Saxons won this tournament because they had the better players and better coaches than anyone else they played against. This is not going to change for the immediate future and you can bet confidently in any matches or tournaments the Saxons are shortly to play because they are simply better than the other teams they compete with.
Avoid betting on individuals because they are likely to change as players get called up to senior England duty and eventually go back to play domestic rugby for their clubs. Replacements will be drafted in and you will have to make calculated bets at that point over who is going to have a major impact on the current Saxons side.
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