Serious questions to answer — lose to Ireland and this is unacceptable
LAST time out, after England lost in Scotland, I said you never overreact to one poor performance and defeat but after a second substandard display on the trot it’s time to acknowledge that England have some major issues to address. In fact, they haven’t played well since the first 20 minutes of the Wales match.
In one way I expected this. You could see it coming after the autumn matches and I wrote to that effect about how England weren’t kicking on, but this is the final proof. France were pretty poor and still beat England and in fact should have won much more comfortably save for some really bad execution and their decision to take off the half-backs who were bossing the game.
Where did it all go wrong for England? My gut reaction is that it started before kick-off. I was a bit alarmed how everybody was trying to play down the need to win with four tries to stay in contention for the tournament after Ireland’s excellent win over Scotland earlier.
Why downplay it? The Six Nations is the biggest annual tournament in the world, and England needed to produce a special performance to stay in it. Just like you will need special performances in the World Cup if you are going to take the trophy. So go out there and execute. Sometimes you need to win big, you need to confront that challenge.
I remember ‘Super Saturday’ in the Six Nations three years ago, when England needed a huge win over France to take the title and ran on to the pitch looking very energised and played fantastically vibrant rugby. They fell short, but, as a player and coach, you can live with that.
Yesterday, though, by lowering their ambition and aiming just for the simple win by any score, they almost seemed to seal their fate.
The playing conditions were much better than we had been led to believe they might be, there were no problems in producing a fluid attack game and a pretty miserable French team were there for the taking.
The biggest problem of all was the huge penalty count against England: 16 in total. You are not going to beat any top-10 team in the world with a statistic like that, especially away from home.
I don’t understand where England have been mentally in the last two games. They didn’t react to Nigel Owens’ interpretation of the breakdown two weeks ago and then last night they didn’t react and adapt to Jaco Peyper’s strict reffing of it. Yes, it can be difficult, but good teams learn to adapt quickly.
So they were on the back foot from the start and, of course, France gained more hope and confidence as they stayed close and then overtook England. And, as they did that, the crowd, who were incredibly quiet by French standards at the beginning, came into the picture and their side started playing with more passion.
England’s backs again scarcely looked like scoring a try, which is a major worry.
The form and approach of George Ford is the biggest worry of all and for the second game in a row he was substituted off and Owen Farrell moved to No10. That shouldn’t be happening to your major playmaker.
Ford has been given a very long run at 10 ahead of others such as Danny Cipriani who have been given no opportunity whatsoever and, although he has had his moments in friendlies and games when England get on top, he is struggling in games that really matter.
I’m beginning to question what Ben Te’o is adding to the mix that others don’t. I would like to have seen more from him last night as well.
The substitutions still puzzle me. Remarkably, the game was still there for the winning at the death, but England took off game winners such as Danny Care and Anthony Watson and brought on Richard Wigglesworth and Mike Brown.
If England are intent on using the bench so much, they need more Xfactor: players such as Kyle Sinckler, who do seem able to immediately pick up the pace off a game and make an impact.
England face a very difficult week. Eddie Jones’s honeymoon is over, he is about to experience the other side of being the England coach. The Six Nations is an unforgiving arena and they now face a rampant Ireland, gunning for the Grand Slam on St Patrick’s Day at Twickenham.
Lose that, which is very possible, and, as defending champions, England will have finished with only two victories. That is poor and unacceptable, given the investment in the team and their huge advantage in playing numbers and strength in depth. Jones has huge credit in the bank but these will be tricky times.
England can — and have to — bounce back and Twickenham will be a wonderfully edgy and nervous arena on Saturday with both sides nervous as they chase their respective dreams.
Ireland have been the class team of the tournament and fully deserve the title a week ahead of time. They came through their one average performance, away to France, with that superb late Johnny Sexton drop goal and have got better and better.
The Irish have a great mix of experience and youth and are going to get even better but England must aim to spoil their Paddy’s Day party.
Ireland, Wales and Scotland have all taken great delight in denying England Grand Slams over the past two decades and England, as a matter of pride, must return the compliment.