Fortress Twickenham breached: England in a dark, dark place
England’s 29-20 loss to South Africa was their fifth defeat on the bounce. Fortress Twickenham has been breached and Eddie Jones is up next for Steve Borthwick.
If deep-pocketed disruptors really were to tempt more than 100 players away from their clubs to form a LIV Golf-style rugby competition as mooted last week, they’d be forgiven for looking beyond the 23 who represented England in their 29-20 loss to South Africa.
Because if you were to dump £1m on a single man, you’d want them to be able to close out and finish a game – something that England have been unable to do for the last five matches now.
It is time to man the buttresses because fortress Twickenham (sorry, Allianz Stadium) has been repeatedly breached since the Six Nations.
Losses to New Zealand, Australia and South Africa on consecutive weekends have left loyal fans reconsidering the hefty sums they’ve spent on future tickets, while one disgruntled attendee on Saturday was overheard saying England were in their “Bore-wick era”.
England not bad but faded
Steve Borthwick’s men weren’t bad, and before the game many would have taken a nine-point defeat, but once again they were in it one second and out of it another. It brings into question the ability of this England side to play 80 minutes.
But against the big three of the southern hemisphere, and the top four in the world rankings, is this anything new?
Since the beginning of 2004, England have won just 23 of 84 matches against teams ranked in the top four in the world. And in the Borthwick era that record collapses to one win in 10.
The former England captain can talk time and time again of learnings, improvements and being on a journey, but his wilting roses are on a path to destruction.
No one really knows what they stand for and what they want to be. Even South Africa coach Rassie Erasmus knew what team Borthwick would pick before he picked it because when you’re failing you often go back to what has worked in the past.
And even with a No10 whose young international career could be nearing its conclusion in Manie Libbok, and a pack who somehow managed to falter against England’s inferior forwards, South Africa came out on top and made it look comfortable in the final quarter.
Huge issues
The last 20 minutes has become a huge issue for Borthwick. In their four matches prior to Saturday’s defeat they were leading at 60 minutes and went on to lose. Against South Africa they were 22-20 down and well in it. Until they weren’t.
Five attacking line-outs inside the South Africa 22 in the final 20 minutes produced no points and once again England were left ruing missed opportunities.
No9 Harry Randall is not an international scrum-half, the replacement bench couldn’t do a job and England faded yet again.
It should be of growing concern to the coaching staff, players and chiefs who rely on fans spending upwards of £130 to watch England lose time and time again.
At least, then, it is Japan on the horizon this weekend. Surely – surely – England cannot screw this one up.
Against a coach in Eddie Jones who made famous the term “finishers” – given instead of replacements or substitutes to add psychological value to those who were not picked to start a Test match – it is ironic that his predecessor goes into a match with him as that being the key flaw of his team.
England will not lose against Japan – to do so would see Borthwick offer his own head to the guillotine – but England are in a dark, dark place.
Scotland the Brave
A Morning Wire congratulations is in order for Ben Muncaster, the son of managing director Lawson Muncaster.
The 23-year-old Edinburgh back-row earned his Test debut in a 59-21 victory for Scotland over Portugal at Murrayfield on Saturday.
Muncaster Sr described the day as “surreal”, adding, “you can’t really plan for this. But all of the family is here so that’s nice”.
Muncaster played 65 minutes before being replaced by Freddy Douglas, who became the youngest international Scotland player since 1963.
Arron Reed scored a brace for the home team while Will Hurd, Stafford McDowall, Darcy Graham, Jamie Bhatti, Jamie Dobie and Josh Bayliss all crossed the whitewash.