England may have lost Calcutta Cup vs Scotland but Six Nations hope remains
Steve Borthwick’s first game as head coach of England offered an intriguing comparison with the last match of predecessor Eddie Jones in the autumn. They both started Marcus Smith at fly-half and Owen Farrell at No12, they both picked a pack that, in the end, was outmuscled and they ultimately both lost. Here are four things we learned from England’s 23-29 loss to Scotland in their Calcutta Cup clash in the Six Nations.
England bite back?
It was a losing cause in south-west London for England but Borthwick’s side at least looked competitive again. They controlled the possession, carried hard and played large parts of the game in the ascendancy – but they couldn’t dominate the scoreboard.
England enjoyed 70 per cent of the ball on Saturday but it matters not when the side couldn’t convert their possession into points.
Borthwick said after the game that his side shouldn’t have let their 20-12 lead be dissolved by brilliant Scottish play, but it was and that’ll be a worry for the former Leicester coach.
England looked good in large parts and that’s something they were unable to manage in the autumn, so that’s progress at least.
But in the Six Nations every decision matters, and England’s lost edge is yet to return. They’ll hope they find some of it against Italy next week.
The 10-12 issue
England fly-half Smith is a star. England fly-half and captain Farrell is also a star. But together? Questions remain.
The duo played at No10 and No12 together in one of the best performances during this World Cup cycle – the 2022 draw against the All Blacks – but England’s centre partnership looked off balance this weekend.
And that often comes down to what kind of role you want your 12 to have.
There were times where Smith and Farrell interchanged at 10, and when Smith called for the ball, it often came to nothing.
In future England need to find some balance in their centre partnership – and that doesn’t involve starting both Smith and Farrell.
Smith had good touches, including his brilliant kick-pass assist for Max Malins in the first half, but England looked slightly flat in their 10-12-13 channel.
England in and outs
It wasn’t a bad XV or XXIII on Saturday but England will undoubtedly look for a couple of changes ahead of the Italy Test next weekend.
It will be interesting to see whether Borthwick backs Alex Dombrandt, Jamie George and Maro Itoje in the pack given their quiet performances in the white shirt on Saturday.
The centre partnership next weekend, too, might see a little bit of fiddling given the performance against Scotland and there could be questions surrounding full-back Freddie Steward after an underwhelming performance. With Malins in the squad there are quality options to cover at No15.
Twickenham bounce
When England fell to a humiliating defeat at the hands of Argentina in the autumn, Twickenham had never sounded so mute. It was drab and depressing.
On Saturday, though, the 82,000 spectators cheered and made themselves known to the 30 players on the pitch, albeit a huge number of those were in kilts and singing renditions of Flower of Scotland.
Whether it’s the Six Nations effect or just a political-style new-coach bounce, England had a jubilant feel within its four stands – even in defeat – and that’s something that has been missing for months now.
No one pretends Twickenham is the best stadium in Britain to watch rugby in, but Saturday’s showing was one which played into the feeling of a new era.
England lost and sit in the bottom half of the Six Nations table – but as is the way with this competition, anything can happen each week and England are not down and out just yet.