Category: England Rugby

Defeat at the hands of South Africa was to be expected, but the Six Nations looms as kill or cure for the coach’s project

A little perspective is always useful at times like this. How many people, for example, genuinely expected England to beat the world champions, South Africa, on Saturday? A good side winning an absorbing game of rugby does not necessarily mean the gallant losers are totally hopeless. England’s autumn has certainly been full of drama but is it really a full-blown crisis?

A ‘crisis’, in sporting terms, refers to the indisputable point at which a team start to perform so far below expectations that there is no discernible hope. Yes, a fifth defeat on the trot is uncomfortable for a supposed top-tier nation. Yes, they continue to tail off in the final half-hours of too many big games. A limp finish is increasingly what springs to mind when analysts lie back and think of England.

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• England coach does not believe he will be sacked
• Freddie Stewart says players should shoulder blame

Steve Borthwick has claimed his England players were not fit enough for Test rugby when they began their autumn internationals after Saturday’s defeat by South Africa extended their dismal losing run.

In what could be construed as a tacit admission that Aled Walters’ departure has been keenly felt, Borthwick has risked the ire of Premiership clubs by stating that his players’ “condition” was not “where it needed to be” at the start of the month.

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Steve Borthwick’s team always kick a lot but they must use the ball well to have a chance against these brilliant South Africans

The kicking duel is going to be pivotal at Twickenham on Saturday. South Africa have said they’ve been expecting it all along and it’s what they’re going to get. Over to England – don’t disappoint. It might not be as aesthetically pleasing, maybe the impetus to win becomes greater as a result, but the thinking is obvious if you cast back to last year’s World Cup semi-final.

I understand the selection of Freddie Steward, that Steve Borthwick genuinely believes selecting someone who is 6ft 5in and whose point of difference is his aerial strength gives England the best chance of beating South Africa. I also understand that World Rugby’s clampdown on escorts is increasing the number of contestable kicks and is having an impact on these autumn Tests. I also have a feeling that England are using the latter to almost excuse the former. In the 2023 Six Nations, England averaged 40 kicks again, which was the most of all countries. Earlier this year it was 30, the same as in New Zealand over the summer, but the point here is that England kick a lot and have done for a while. A directive that encourages kicking would appear to suit them yet they seem to be outwardly disappointed about it, perhaps in the knowledge that adopting that sort of style will not be universally well received.

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• Captain backs side to revel in ‘confrontational game’
• ‘Historic rivalry’ continues at Twickenham on Saturday

England are braced for physical ­warfare when they seek to end their losing streak against South Africa on Saturday, according to the ­captain, Jamie George.

Steve Borthwick’s side host the back-to-back world champions at Twickenham having endured a four-game losing streak and have dropped to seventh in the world ­rankings. The Springboks, meanwhile, have returned to the No 1 spot and are heavy favourites to compound ­England’s misery.

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• Plans afoot for global league with eight franchise teams
• But RFU insists anyone who signs up won’t be in Test side

Steve Borthwick’s ailing national side could be decimated by England players signing up to a breakaway global league, with the Rugby Football Union adopting a view that they would be sacrificing their Test careers if they did so.

Plans are afoot for a new league featuring eight franchise teams and about 200 players which would take matches around the world across major cities. Twenty players are said to have signed up in principle for the league, which is believed to be backed by US and Middle East money and due to begin in 2026.

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A World Cup winner in 2023, the loosehead is part of South Africa’s feared ‘Bomb Squad’ and a hero in his home country

Ox Nché is far from the finished article. By his own admission, the Springboks prop has just about mastered the basics. He’s not bad at the flourishing touches but there is a long way to go in his development.In short, he is a work in progress. “I’m learning, actually. I can do just one layer so far,” he admits. “And obviously the icing.”

Nché is, of course, talking about making cakes. The 17-stone loosehead is obsessed with them. His favourite is chocolate caramel, his mantra is that “salads don’t win scrums” and asked the secret to his set-piece prowess he bursts into a bout of his gentle, infectious laughter before shooting back “cake!”.

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• Former defence coach still employed remotely by RFU
• Richard Wigglesworth and players have not been in touch

England will not be benefiting from the insider knowledge of their ­former Springbok assistant coach Felix Jones this weekend after it emerged that neither their players nor key staff members have been in contact with the Irishman, still supposedly employed remotely by the Rugby Football Union (RFU).

England’s senior assistant coach, Richard Wigglesworth said he had not spoken to Jones and the players also say they have received no input from him before Saturday’s big game against South Africa. Jones handed in his resignation as defence coach after the summer tour to Japan and New Zealand but has not yet been formally released from his RFU contract.

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Head coach’s gameplan exploded in his face again against Australia. South Africa are next … do the players trust it?

One of the all-time great Wallaby Test victories has left England up a gum tree of their own making. Clearly Australia deserve huge praise for Saturday’s spectacular ram raid, topped off by a record for points scored in this fixture at Twickenham. For the home side, however, a recurring failure to close out big games is now the subject of mounting scrutiny.

Scoring five tries and 37 points, for instance, should be enough to win any Test match. But only last March England scored 31 points in Lyon and still lost to France. Yet another disturbing pattern is emerging, this time around their defensive solidity. It makes for cracking entertainment for neutrals, less so for those England fans who still have any hair left to pull out.

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• England have won just four of 10 Tests in 2024
• Under-pressure coach has “100%” backing from RFU

The England head coach, Steve Borthwick, retains the unequivocal support of the Rugby Football Union despite four consecutive defeats, the Guardian understands.

England have won just four of their 10 Test matches in 2024 and have lost six of their last seven matches against tier one opposition. On Saturday they conceded a record number of points against Australia at Twickenham, again snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in losing 42-37. Since Borthwick took charge in December 2022, they have a 50% winning record.

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• Late collapse against New Zealand was third in a row
• ‘We’ve had all the right messages – we need to step up’

Tom Curry believes England players must step up and shoulder the responsibility for their late collapses, insisting there can be no excuses as Steve Borthwick’s side seek to return to winning ways against Australia.

England have lost their last three Tests – all against New Zealand – after putting themselves into winning positions, only to succumb to late defeats. Their final match of the Six Nations against France was a similar story and as a result England head into Saturday’s clash with the Wallabies with a record of just four wins from their nine Tests in 2024.

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Head coach knows game management in later stages needs improvement against Australia after latest near miss

England’s team sheets are beginning to resemble Mastermind questions. They’ve started but can they finish? So many tight games have now been lost in the closing stages that the bench is becoming the first place to look for a glimpse of how a coach is thinking and how he might be looking to approach the next game.

Steve Borthwick had to been seen to do something after Saturday’s near-miss against New Zealand and, sure enough, other than switching the jersey numbers of his two centres, the only personnel tweaks are among the replacements. Gone, for now, is the 6-2 bench split, to be replaced by a more familiar 5-3 configuration, which now includes Luke Cowan-Dickie and Ollie Sleightholme.

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• Danny Care accused Jones regime of being ‘a dictatorship’
• Borthwick hails ‘step forward’ in players sharing opinions

Steve Borthwick has insisted he has nothing to hide about his England setup and believes his players are empowered to speak up after claims from Danny Care that Eddie Jones’s regime was like “living in a dictatorship”.

Borthwick spent more than four years as Jones’s assistant but sought to distance his environment from that of the Australian’s after the former England scrum-half’s portrayal of a toxic culture raised serious questions over the Rugby Football Union’s safeguarding procedures. The World Cup winning coach Sir Clive Woodward has described it as “astonishing” that Jones’s contract was renewed by the RFU.

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• Slade and Lawrence swap places in midfield jerseys
• Sleightholme and Cowan-Dickie added to bench

Steve Borthwick has stuck by his starting England team to face Australia on Saturday but freshened up his bench in an effort to avoid another late collapse following last weekend’s agonising defeat by New Zealand.

Borthwick’s only change to his starting XV is to swap Henry Slade and Ollie Lawrence around in midfield, moving the Exeter Chief to inside centre and handing the Bath man the No13 jersey.

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The former England scrum-half’s depiction of the Australian’s ‘dictatorship’ raises serious questions for RFU

It has taken a while to trickle out but the full and frank verdict of the players is finally in. “It was like living in a dictatorship,” writes Danny Care in his new autobiography, Everything Happens for a Reason, serialised in the Sunday Times. “Remember what it felt like when someone was being bullied at school and you were just glad it wasn’t you? That was the vibe.”

The England regime to which he was referring – shock, horror – was that of Eddie Jones. According to Care, Jones’s players felt “like characters in a dystopian novel” at times. “Everything’s a test,” they would whisper to each other, trying to steel themselves for whatever was about to follow. “Did Eddie rule by fear?” asks Care rhetorically, at one point. “Of course he did, everyone was bloody terrified of him.”

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Leicester prop was first to find out about Marler’s retirement and is backing Borthwick after loss to All Blacks

As his close confidant and the first person to find out, Dan Cole was not entirely surprised when Joe Marler told him of his international retirement. Indeed Marler’s decision provoked an altogether different reaction. “He explained his reasons and all that, and I thought: ‘Who the fuck am I going to room with, Joe!? You’ve stitched me up here!’”

It turns out George Ford is the lucky recipient of Marler’s bed but more significantly, it is Sale’s 20-year-old prop Asher Opoku-Fordjour who takes his place in the squad. As Cole says, he will miss Marler, but the world keeps turning. He questions whether, at 37, he still belongs at the highest level almost on a daily basis and Steve Borthwick’s decision to hand the highly-rated Opoku-Fordjour a first call-up is symbolic of the changing of the guard.

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