Where do England go from here? The only logical answer is home from the World Cup early. Try as they might, they just cannot escape the eye of the storm. That which has swirled around Owen Farrell all week – and will continue to do so at the start of next – has been tempestuous to say the least and on Friday, Dublin was battered by Storm Betty for good measure. There was no let up on the field either from Ireland, who barely got out of second gear, and Billy Vunipola’s red card only adds to the sense of chaos engulfing their World Cup preparations.
If Steve Borthwick is wedded to a kicking game then that is all well and good but the problem is that England are executing it dreadfully. Ireland could not have been more comfortable in dealing with England’s kick-chase which, like pretty much every other facet of their game, was horribly out of sync. Alex Mitchell was called into the squad at the start of the week after Jack van Poortvliet was ruled out of the World Cup through injury. Maybe Borthwick would have been better off convincing Richard Wigglesworth to lace up his boots again – for the irony is that the scrum-half best suited to carrying out England’s game-plan is currently employed as their attack coach.
