'Pulled their weight' admissions made as England players hold clear-the-air meeting

Ben Earl insisted England have a “glint in their eye” following a clear-the-air meeting in which players put their hands up to underperforming against Scotland and Ireland.

Senior players gathered last Wednesday to pick apart the reasons for the successive emphatic losses which removed the team from Guinness Six Nations title contention with two rounds still to play.

Italy in Rome are the next assignment and Earl, who will win his 50th cap at the Stadio Olimpico on Saturday, believes England are ready to emerge from the ruins of another disappointing championship.

“These are the weeks where boys have a little glint in their eye. They mean business,” the British and Irish Lions back row said.

“You look at some of the big guys in our squad and go ‘something good is coming’. We’re all hoping that is going to materialise on Saturday.

Six Nations

P

W

L

D

PF

PA

PD

BP T

BP-7

BP

Total

1

France

3

3

0

0

15

2

Scotland

3

2

1

0

11

3

Ireland

3

2

1

0

9

4

England

3

1

2

0

5

5

Italy

3

1

2

0

5

6

Wales

3

0

3

0

1

“It’s come from within. If we’re being honest, there’s been some challenge from within the playing group. A few of us had a meeting last Wednesday and we’ve stripped it bare.

“There are people in the squad who don’t feel like they’ve pulled their weight or performed well enough. Some people have come forward and said they need to be a lot better at this or have been a bit off on that.

“Once you get that out there, it’s about how you move forward. There’s no point sulking about it.

“Hopefully it’s something we can look back on again when we play more big games over the next 18 months and we can say ‘I won’t forget those conversations’.

“I don’t want to say it’s a turning point and I don’t want to downplay it. But it’s another big moment on our journey – what’s happened over the past couple of weeks.

“This team has always performed well when it’s been challenged from within and from outside.

“Whether the result comes on Saturday or not is kind of indifferent for us, it’s about the feeling within the group.”

England have been presented with ample inspiration on how to recover from setbacks following visits to their Surrey base by several of Martin Johnson’s 2003 World Cup winners and Matt Weston, the double Winter Olympic skeleton gold medallist.

On both evenings, Steve Borthwick’s squad learned how athletes who had gone on to conquer the world did so despite experiencing a string of early failures.

Borthwick is expected to ring the changes when he names his team for the Stadio Olimpico showdown on Tuesday afternoon with the backline in particular facing a significant overhaul, including the selection of a new-look midfield trio.

Fly-half Fin Smith was unable to train on Monday because of illness and second row Ollie Chessum sat out the session for loading reasons.

Tournament organisers have revealed the Six Nations trophy, which was created in 2015, is to be replaced after the original sustained irreparable damage during a fire to the vehicle that was transporting it in round three.