Bracken: Six Nations battle is wide open
KYRAN Bracken feels the battle for the Northern Hemisphere crown is “wide open” this year and says England can bounce back from yesterday’s defeat at Twickenham.
England failed to get the win against Scotland but Bracken believes that with two home games to come – against Italy and France – Steve Borthwick’s side can still be contenders.
A full house turned up with excitement and expectation of what a new coaching set-up involving Borthwick and Nick Evans could concoct in terms of playing style, having booed the team off the pitch following their last Test against South Africa in November.
England did score some nice tries with Max Malins impressing in the first half, but defence let them down with Duhan van der Merwe proving the difference for the Scots.
Bracken hopes the new coaching team, with Evans’ Harlequins’ thrills mixed with the safe, secure and organised Borthwick approach, will have an impact as the tournament progresses.
He says: “The coaching set-up is intriguing. Steve Borthwick is very much about set-piece and very organised. Then you have Nick Evans who is from Harlequins and about unstructured rugby and playing with a bit of flair.
That’s what England have lacked since the World Cup.
“But if you look at the pool of players at England’s disposal both in the squad and those who haven’t been selected, we have talent all over the place.
“But it is a bit of Ying and Yang situation with Borthwick saying let’s play structure and Evans saying let’s play some rugby, move the ball around a bit. It could be a very exciting road ahead if the combination of the two of them works well.
“This Six Nations is very open, anyone can beat anyone. Ireland and France are favourites but England have two more Twickenham games so the schedule is in their favour.”
Bracken believes Borthwick will be forgiven for yesterday’s defeat. “It is not like football. I don’t think anyone is going to say let’s sack him after a couple of games,” he said. “He has enough time and the supporters are looking forward to seeing how things work out with the change of coach.
“We have some fantastic players in the Premake miership and we have to change a lot of things. We have to first get the set-piece right because the scrum has been awful and so has the attack. Get those two things right and we have a chance of even challenging for the World Cup.”
On Borthwick’s decision to leave out the likes of Jack Nowell, Jonny May and Billy Vunipola, Bracken insists: “I was slightly surprised as Nowell was vice captain for the last game and, like Jonny May, hasn’t let England down.
“What isn’t surprising is the return of Dan Cole. The scrum has been a real talking point. It is usually one of their strengths but it has been a weakness since the World Cup Final.”