England’s stupid mindset tells me they’re living in dreamland
From one England coach to another, I urge Borthwick to ask himself these tough questions because...
ENGLAND’S defeat in Edinburgh means they have now lost to Scotland four times in a row — the first time that has happened since 1896.
To me this is a major statistic and one which has to make English rugby sit up and take notice at the fall from grace of the national side.
England should not be losing to anyone four years in a row.
That’s not to take anything away from Scotland. It is now abundantly clear from recent results between the sides that England are a long way behind Scotland. Steve Borthwick’s men were second best by a country mile at Murrayfield.
England lacked any cohesion or understanding of how they want to play, particularly in attack. There were so many handling errors. It was very disappointing.
There are four questions I would love to put to Borthwick…
Why are players celebrating meaningless penalties?
THIS says so much about England’s mindset. Their players — Ben Earl and Maro Itoje in particular — celebrating winning penalties or turnovers isn’t anything new.
It’s been happening for a while. I just would not allow it.
This is why. One of the key moments of Saturday’s defeat by Scotland came after just eight minutes. England had started really well and had scored a lovely team try through George Furbank.
They were 7-0 up and Murrayfield was very quiet. England had a scrum just inside their own half and won a penalty.
Earl had the ball in his hands but turned his back on the opposition and started celebrating the penalty. All the backs also ran in and celebrated like they had just won the World Cup!
Why was Earl not looking to tap and go? He should have been looking to keep Scotland under pressure.
The celebrating of penalties is plain stupid.
With the Scottish scrum on the floor, Earl had a great opportunity to take a quick penalty and run into space.
What did he and England do instead? They celebrated needlessly, slowed the game right down, and kicked for a line-out.
If England think these celebrations have a psychological impact on the opposition they are living in dreamland.
I would really urge Borthwick to tell Earl and Co to knock this nonsense on the head.
How many England players would make a World XV?
THE current state of the England side is far from all down to Borthwick. We have to remember he’s only been in the job a little over a year. The RFU and Borthwick’s predecessor Eddie Jones have more than played their part. You can tell you’ve got a good side at your disposal if a handful of your players would get in any international team. The sad reality for England is I’m not sure any of theirs would right now. In fact, I don’t think many of England’s players would even get into the Scotland side. And to add insult to injury, three of England’s five worldclass players are not available to play in the Six Nations. It’s crazy. When they are fit and firing, Owen Farrell (playing as a fly-half), Henry Arundell, Jack Willis, Marcus Smith and Itoje would push hard to get into most teams. But Farrell, Arundell and Willis are currently ineligible. English rugby can’t afford to not have its best players unavailable. The results are showing why.
What is your policy on substitutions?
ARE England just unloading their bench in matches to give everyone a game? For a long time now I’ve been confused by their tactics around replacements. It needs to be questioned.
One substitution in Scotland that did work was Immanuel Feyi-Waboso who scored his first Test try. But after he went over, Borthwick replaced Jamie George. Why take off your captain when the game is in the balance?
There were also a raft of new faces around the hour mark including Fin Smith coming on for George Ford. I’m not sure that was needed. It is very difficult for substitutes, especially backs, to get up to speed with the pace of international rugby when they come on.
This is not a criticism of individuals, rather the overall policy on substitutions which I think is wrong. For example, Smith was unable to convert Feyi-Waboso’s try. In my opinion part of the reason for that was because he was only just on the field.
It was a key moment because if the kick had gone over, it would have been a seven-point game. England’s poor use of substitutions cost them badly in last year’s World Cup semi-final defeat by South Africa. Lessons just aren’t being learned.
Why are you persisting with this development narrative?
BORTHWICK has to — and I mean has to — look at the language he uses with regard to his team. After the Scotland game, he said: ‘You see a team trying to develop and add layers to its game but they made errors.’ International rugby is not about development. It is about winning.
The more you put the notion of development in the players’ minds, the more comfortable and careless they become. If a player is being told they and the team are developing, it takes away any sense of jeopardy or urgency. It is another lesson from the Jones era that has not been learned.
For years the RFU, England supporters and the media were strung along and fed a narrative by Jones about this great attacking game that would one day blow the world away. It never happened.
Borthwick’s England should improve over time. But everyone has to wake up and realise talk of development isn’t acceptable.
The constant focus on England’s new blitz defence has also become boring. I’ve never heard so many comments about a team’s defence! I read comments from the England camp pointing to the fact it took South Africa 14 games to adapt to the blitz system Felix Jones has brought in. Great.
Are we supposed to wait 14 games for England to be successful? Fans have waited long enough already.