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England’s defeat in Edinburgh means they have now lost to Scotland four times in a row, the first time this has happened since 1896.
For me, this is an important statistic that has to make English rugby stand up and take notice of the national team’s fall from grace.
England should not lose to anyone four years in a row. That doesn’t mean we take anything away from Scotland. Now, from the recent results between both sides, it is very clear that England is far behind Scotland.
Steve Borthwick’s men came second by a mile at Murrayfield. England lacked cohesion or understanding of how they wanted to play the game, particularly in attack. There were so many handling errors. It was very disappointing.
There are four questions I would love to ask Borthwick…
Scotland lifted the Calcutta Cup after extending its winning streak against England
England coach Steve Borthwick must ask himself difficult questions after the defeat.
Why do England players celebrate meaningless penalties?
This says a lot about England’s mentality. Their players, Ben Earl and Maro Itoje in particular, celebrating penalties or turnovers is nothing new. It’s been happening for a while now.
I just wouldn’t allow it. This is the reason why. One of the key moments of the game against Scotland came after eight minutes. England had started very well and had scored a magnificent collective try through George Furbank.
They were 7-0 up and Murrayfield was very quiet. England scrumed just inside their own half and won a penalty. Earl had the ball in his hands but turned his back to the opponent and began to celebrate the penalty.
All the backs ran too and celebrated like they had just won the World Cup! Why wasn’t Earl looking to tap and leave? He should have tried to keep Scotland under pressure.
Celebrating penalties is simply stupid. With the Scottish scrum on the ground, Earl had a great opportunity to take a quick penalty and run into space. What did he and England do instead? They celebrated unnecessarily, slowed down the game at this point and kicked for a line-out.
If England believes these celebrations have a psychological impact on the opposition, they are living in dreamland. I would really urge Borthwick to tell Earl and company to drop this nonsense.
England must stop celebrating meaningless penalties and focus on playing the game.
How many England players would participate in a World XV right now?
The current state of the English team is not exclusively due to Borthwick. It must be remembered that he has only been in office for a little over a year.
The RFU and Borthwick’s predecessor, Eddie Jones, have more than fulfilled their role. You can tell you have a good team at your disposal if a handful of your players make it into any international team.
The sad reality for England is that I’m not sure any of them would do it at the moment. In fact, I don’t think many of England’s players will even make the Scottish team. And to add insult to injury, three of England’s five world-class players are unavailable to play in the Six Nations. It’s crazy. When they’re fit and firing,
I think Owen Farrell (playing flyhalf), 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 cannot afford not to have its best players available. The results show why.
England cannot afford to have their best players like Owen Farrell not available for selection.
What is your policy regarding substitutions?
Are England simply unloading their bench in matches to give everyone a game? I have long been confused by their tactics around replacements.
It is necessary to question it. One Scotland substitution that worked was Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, who scored his first Test try. But after he left, Borthwick replaced Jamie George. Why dismiss your captain when the game is at stake? There were also a number of new faces around the hour including Fin Smith who replaced George Ford. I’m not sure it was necessary.
It is very difficult for substitutes, especially backs, to adapt to the pace of international rugby when they come on. This is not a criticism of individuals, but of the general policy of substitutions, which I believe is erroneous. For example, Smith couldn’t convert Feyi-Waboso’s try.
In my opinion, part of the reason was because he was barely on the field. It was a key moment because if the shot had gone high, it would have been a seven-point game. England’s poor use of substitutions cost them dearly in last year’s World Cup semi-final defeat to South Africa. The same thing happened again against Scotland. Lessons are simply not being learned.
Captain Jamie George’s replacement must be questioned with the game on the line
Why do you persist in the development narrative?
Borthwick has to (and I mean has to) look at the language he uses regarding his team.
After the Scotland game, he said: “You see a team trying to develop and add layers to their game, but they made mistakes.” International rugby is not about development. It’s about winning. The more the notion of development is introduced into players’ minds, the more comfortable and careless they become.
If a player is constantly told that he and the team are developing, any sense of danger or urgency is removed. It’s another lesson from the Jones era that hasn’t been learned.
For years the RFU, England supporters and the media were driven and fed by a Jones narrative of this great attacking game that would one day blow the world away. Never happened. Borthwick’s England should improve with time. But everyone has to wake up and realize that this development talk is not acceptable.
The constant focus on England’s new blitzkrieg defense has also become quite boring. I have never heard so many comments about a team’s defense! I read comments from the England camp pointing out the fact that it took South Africa 14 games to adapt to the blitz system that Felix Jones introduced. Brilliant. So are we supposed to wait 14 games for England to triumph? English fans have already waited too long.