A heavy defeat might be considered unfortunate, but two in as many weeks…? If England could view the 31-20 defeat to Scotland at Murrayfield as a bad day for the team, especially given the credit they had accumulated during their previous 12 consecutive wins, the ensuing humiliation of a 42-21 home defeat to Ireland suddenly raised serious questions about the direction of this team.
England’s recent Calcutta Cup record has certainly been inconsistent, particularly away from home, so while there is a mental hurdle to overcome against Scotland in the end, Edinburgh’s embarrassment is at least partly explainable. Seven days later, when Twickenham suffered a record defeat at home to a place that had been a fortress for more than a year, with all the same problems plus a few extras, the issues began to become crucial.
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England trailed Scotland 17-0 after 15 minutes, with Ireland scoring 22 points before troubling the scorers. Interestingly, at Test level you can’t give a team a three or four-point lead and expect to come back.
Steve Borthwick must choose whether to hold on or turn around (Adam Davy/PA Wire)
“What are you going to do? Concede so many points in the first 15 minutes two weeks in a row,” a visibly frustrated Ellis Genge told BBC Sport after Ireland’s loss. “There’s a mountain to climb after that and everyone has to look at themselves.
Warming his subject, the ever-honest supporters allowed his anger to build. “No one knows what the answer is right now, otherwise we would be solving this problem,” he added. “It opens up scar tissue from last week and we have to manage this period better and stop turning the ball over.”
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Speaking at the press conference, Borthwick agreed with his former rower that a slow start had come at a heavy cost to England.
“This team has been very, very good in tight games for a long time, and even if we were a point or two behind, the second half was very strong and always found a way to win the second half,” the head coach explained.
“Unfortunately, we’ve given ourselves a big mountain to climb over the two weeks because they’ve scored so many goals and we haven’t been able to put it on the scoreboard.”
Ireland celebrate an impressive win (Getty Images)
But England were frustrated (Andrew Matthews/PA Wire)
Falling behind wasn’t England’s only problem in both games. The profligacy in the offensive zone is evident. Against Ireland, they reached the top 22 12 times but averaged a paltry 1.75 points per game. They made 11 possession errors against Scotland the week before, including 14 turnovers, many of which occurred within five meters of the opponent’s defence.
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England’s scrum has been an absolute weapon, dominating both Ireland and Scotland, but this was a rare bright spot. Edinburgh’s lineout line-up was solid enough but the game at Twickenham began poorly, losing twice to their own throws, leading to Borthwick taking off starter Luke Cowan-Dickie after just 29 minutes, with Jamie George taking his place.
Jamie George replaced Luke Cowan-Dickie after just 29 minutes but could not prevent England from suffering a frustrating defeat (Getty Images)
The back row has enviable depth and has been a real source of pride over the past year, but while Ben Earl’s ball-carrying ability has been consistently impressive, all four flankers will certainly be disappointed with their performances. Henry Pollock and Tom Curry started in place of Sam Underhill and Guy Pepper on Saturday, but England’s batting effort plummeted. Borthwick’s side lost 10 lacs to Ireland’s 2 lacs, having already lost 5 lacs seven days earlier.
There were 24 turnovers compared to 19 turnovers the previous week, and possession continued to be squandered. If it is not a fault, then handle the error. No wonder England were unable to exert the scoreboard pressure their coach so craved.
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George Ford also struggled for the second week in a row, missing two penalty kicks uncharacteristically. Finn Smith has long been hailed as England’s future number 10 and although Borthwick refuses to drop Ford in favor of the youngster, the temptation to do so will surely be too strong when they travel to Rome to face Italy in two weeks’ time.
George Ford fumbled twice (Getty Images)
The positive feeling of beating Wales on the opening weekend, extending the winning streak to 12 games, was a long time ago.
“It’s a brutal professional sport because if you make five percent of a mistake, the game is over,” Genge said. “We probably believed too much in the hype of Week 1. We can’t let the noise come in now.”
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So what can England do? What is Borthwick up to? This failure is definitely a certainty, but what to do?
The manager didn’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater after the defeat to Scotland and resisted the temptation to make too many changes – opting for just three. Presumably the logic is not to show any panic but to give those players who were not performing at their best at Murrayfield a chance to rectify the situation.
He simply couldn’t take the same approach again – it was time to reverse rather than hold on again.
George will certainly be ahead of Cowan-Dickie at Roma, but given how impressive this mess was, the rest of the top five should remain. Earl is arguably England’s best player so far and his position isn’t in any danger, but the rest of the back row is vacant. Will Borthwick deviate from his preferred combination of Underhill-Pepper or Curry-Pollock?
It was a difficult day for several England stalwarts (Getty Images)
Alex Mitchell came off with a soft tissue injury after playing just 23 minutes against Ireland, and although there was no immediate diagnosis after the game, it may be necessary to start Jack van Pultfleet.
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The Ford-Smith debate will rage on over the next fortnight, and with Stuart McCloskey gleefully straddling the gaping hole that has emerged between England’s midfield and full-back time and time again, it’s no advertisement for the central partnership of Fraser Dingwall and Ollie Lawrence. Scotland went around the edges of the English defence, Ireland through the middle.
Could Tommy Freeman move back to the inside 13 role, and would Max Ojomoh get a chance? Tom Roebuck is certain to return to the side after Borthwick suggested he wasn’t ready for three games in a row, while Henry Arundel looks likely to be on borrowed time.
Freddie Stewart was drawn before half-time, so the full-back may also arrive. Will Borthwick back Marcus Smith to wear the number 15 jersey from the start? Or maybe George Furbank is in shape enough to take back that shirt that looks like him in the near future.
Marcus Smith comes on before half-time against Ireland (Getty Images)
There will certainly be plenty for the coach to think about before the game, with Italy surely smelling blood and looking forward to their first chance at victory over England.
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When asked if he would look at his system after these back-to-back losses, Borthwick gave a brief response. “We do this every day,” he insists. “That’s the answer. We do it every day.”
This is almost certainly the case, but now is the time for these reflections to lead to tangible changes and improvements. Because if two debilitating failures send a warning signal, three failures can cause a veritable earthquake.
