When Steve Borthwick said the England side he inherited “weren’t good at anything” after last week’s defeat by Scotland the inference, taken at face value, was that they were bad at everything. That isn’t quite what he meant, rather that, having pored over the data, he realised that England were not the frontrunners in any department. Whereas Clive Woodward used to measure his team in terms of individuals – how many of them were the best in the world in their position – Borthwick prefers to crunch the data. It does not make for pretty reading – indeed in some instances England really were bad, others rank average.
Attack
England managed an average of just 2.3 tries per match in 2022 which put them 10th out of the 11 sides in the rankings with only Wales below them. It is one of the more revealing statistics and points to the fog of confusion that had befallen England’s attack. Marcus Smith played at fly-half in every match, Owen Farrell a constant at No 12 from the summer onwards, but it was only in the closing stages of the 25-25 draw against New Zealand that England demonstrated an attacking threat that Eddie Jones had long since insisted was being honed.
Jones’s repeated talk of holding things back for the World Cup did not help and you have to feel somewhat for Martin Gleeson. Jones churned through attack coaches more than any other department and well-placed sources have claimed that Gleeson would come up with attacking idea and players would be receptive to them, only for Jones to reject them. No wonder Nick Evans spoke of the need to strip things back and bring clarity upon his appointment as attack coach for the Six Nations.
Players and coaches would often point to England’s ability to create chances – the problem being an inability to finish them off – but that they ranked ninth and eighth for defenders beaten and line breaks respectively does not back that up. They were fourth for metres made but you imagine Freddie Steward carrying from deep accounted for a large proportion of those.
To get to the root of the problem, let’s look at when England were most devastating in attack under Jones. The final stages of last November’s draw with New Zealand notwithstanding, it was the 2019 World Cup semi-final win against the All Blacks. Back then, Manu Tuilagi was in irrepressible form, Billy Vunipola not far behind, and England’s physical dominance laid the platform. Neither has been anywhere near as influential of late and while Jones was seemingly pinning his hopes on Tuilagi coming good again, Borthwick has made the bold move to look beyond him.
Last year, without their powerful runners making enough of a dent England’s ruck speed was dreadful – they averaged 3.7 seconds, which again was 10th out of 11. Evans’s whole philosophy is based on quick ball – much quicker than 3.7 seconds – and against Scotland the signs were positive. Whereas last year only 58% of their rucks were quicker than three seconds, last Saturday it was 65%. Against Italy, with Owen Farrell returning to fly-half and Ollie Lawrence coming into the midfield, expect England’s ruck speed to be quicker yet.
Eddie Jones has accepted that Steve Borthwick was right when he said the England side he inherited “weren’t good at anything” after last week’s defeat by Scotland.
Jones pointed to how he was trying to adapt England’s style but did not take issue with Borthwick’s assessment
“He is probably right,” said Jones, speaking on his podcast, Eddie. “And that was part of the problem. We were trying to morph a team that had been a very good set-piece and a very good kicking team. The way the game is played at the moment, that will win you games but it is probably not good enough to be a World Cup champion. So expanding the attack sometimes takes away from your strength.
"They are going through that difficult period now where they are trying to get the balance right in the game. There is no doubt Steve will fix it. And keep blaming me, that is all right. I have got a pretty strong back and pretty strong shoulders to absorb that.” Gerard Meagher
Defence
Kevin Sinfield, England’s defence coach, offered a pretty concise explanation for the side’s defensive problems against Scotland. “You can’t miss tackles at this level and expect to get away with it.” England missed 25 in total, including five on Duhan van der Merwe for the Scotland winger’s stunning try – a cause for concern whichever way you look at it.
The 2022 statistics show that this is not a new problem – England ranked 10th out of 11 nations for tackle success with Scotland, well drilled under Steve Tandy, topping the pile. That does not paint Anthony Seibold, Sinfield’s predecessor, in the best of lights – even if the latter stages of the third Test in Australia saw an impressive defensive rearguard – and perhaps speaks to the difficulties of England players having to adjust to new systems with the high turnover of coaches under Jones.
Sinfield also acknowledged that “system error” could be to blame and as evidenced in these pages earlier this week, England have a problem conceding first-phase tries with 19 (40%) shipped since the start of 2021. That England were ranked second for turnovers won, behind only France, suggests they are more capable in defence the longer an opponent’s attack goes on; and in turn, more susceptible at the outset.
Some of the issues will be fixed as the championship goes on but how Sinfield progresses the defensive in the medium term will be critical because England were never better under Jones than when relentlessly suffocating – one performance against Ireland springs to mind in particular. It was in those moments that England had a clear identity, something Borthwick is so keen to instil. Sinfield, you sense, holds the key in that regard.
Set piece
The statistics paint a bleak picture of England’s scrum over the last 12 months. It is the one category – scrums won – in which they ranked last in out of all 11 tier-one nations. The defeat by South Africa in the autumn was the nadir – just 60% and four penalties conceded – but England’s scrum has been listing for a while, the Six Nations defeat by Ireland, in which Charlie Ewels was sent off in the opening minutes, aside.
Putting scrum problems squarely on individuals’ shoulders is far too simplistic but England have not been helped insofar as Kyle Sinckler and Will Stuart – currently sidelined – have had injury problems. It is also interesting to note that the last match Joe Marler started – way back in 2020 – England’s winning percentage was 100% but he was restricted to the role of replacement in 2021 and early 2022 and has not been seen since.
Dan Cole, however, has been recalled to shore things up and it was instructive to hear his views on the scrum’s significance in Test rugby at present. “The game goes in cycles. Sometimes the game is refereed and it is free-flowing and other times it moves to more contest based,” said Cole. “The game swings from one end of the spectrum to the other and it is probably now moving towards that end of the spectrum.”
England’s lineout has functioned much better. They ranked third last year – behind France and Ireland – and though there is a lack of depth at hooker, they have an experienced hand throwing in provided one of Jamie George or Luke Cowan-Dickie is fit. It is also an area of expertise for Borthwick, who has taken over the reins from Richard Cockerill. He is rarely far away from his step ladder at training sessions and has more recently been using a steeped bank at England’s training base, leaving no stone unturned to bring about improvements.
Borthwick seems to prefer a more traditional back row but it will be instructive to see where he deploys Courtney Lawes when fit. In his absence, Ollie Chessum has come into the team and there will be an emphasis on disrupting opponents’ lineouts. For last year England ranked ninth for lineout steals – a statistic that would appear to back up the suspicion that Maro Itoje has not been at his supreme best of late. Chessum, however, is 6ft 7in and stole an Italy lineout with his very first touch in Test rugby this time last year. Against Scotland the lineout was not perfect – England won 14 but lost two of their own and failed to steal any – even if George bristled at the idea it had not gone well. “Was it that bad?” he countered. “It’s certainly not a concern.”
