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'Brings edge': Jeff Wilson's pick for a new All Blacks captain
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'It’s 100 percent game plan... I played in that England system'
By Ian Cameron
England’s historic 23-18 defeat to Italy in Rome has prompted a fierce post-mortem, with former international Ben Youngs pointing squarely at Steve Borthwick’s tactical blueprint as the root cause of a third successive Six Nations defeat.
The loss at the Stadio Olimpico was England’s first-ever defeat to the Azzurri in the championship and capped a dramatic downturn for a side that arrived in the tournament on the back of a 12-match winning run.
Speaking in the aftermath on his For the Love of Rugby with co-host Dan Cole, Youngs began by acknowledging Italy’s achievement before delivering a withering assessment of England’s display and the direction of the team.
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“First and foremost, congratulations to Italy. Fully deserved of their win. From an English point of view, that was a really tough watch. It was the manner of the loss, the way that they played and the errors we’re seeing that we’ve seen from the previous two games.
“We went into this tournament so optimistic, with a lot of hope. Now I’m looking at a team that looks confused, short of confidence and lacking ideas.
“It really hurt watching that because I just felt like the team were set up in a way of trying not to lose it rather than go out there and try and win it. It was brutal watching that unfold. There’s a lot of talent out there, a lot of great players, and seeing them lose in that manner and play that way was bloody difficult, as I’m sure it was for a lot of fans watching.
“This thing for me is you lose to Scotland, that’s acceptable. I get it. I can see that. They’re a very good outfit. You saw what they did to France and England got well beaten.
“It’s then the manner that you then lose at home [against Ireland]. You can’t take 40 at home like that. That’s brutal. I just don’t see… I can’t sugarcoat that. There’s no nice way of saying it. You can’t take 40 at home.
“You then go to Italy away. They are vastly improved, of course they are. But are we really going to accept losing to Italy? Like really, is that where we’re at? I don’t think so. We’re better than that. The players are better than that.
“With the way it’s set up, with central contracts, resources, players and coaches, that should not be happening. I just don’t agree that that should be happening.
“It’s the manner of the results, the lack of a break away from the game plan, the lack of ideas. It’s the same errors. England looked like a team that were set up to not lose rather than go and win it. And if we’re going to approach a game against Italy like that, the whole set-up is wrong. That’s not the mindset.
“And I think if we accept that that’s okay and that’s where we’re at, then no, I don’t think that’s acceptable — accepting that.”
Youngs’ co-host and former England prop Dan Cole suggested England’s squad might not be suited to playing a high-tempo multi-phase style, but the former scrum-half rejected that explanation.
“But I’ve seen Scotland today hold on to the ball and have 70 percent of the possession and go multi-phase and dismantle the French team by 50 points.
“England against an Italian team away from home looked terrified of losing and were set up to play the most pragmatic game, almost so risk-averse because the more you kick it, the less likely you are to lose.”
Youngs argued the game has moved beyond the territorial template that once brought England success and believes the team has failed to evolve.
“The game has moved on. England were ahead in that part of the game once, but now the game’s moved on and England are still trying to do the same thing that worked a while ago.
“Against Scotland, against Ireland, the plan B — there wasn’t one. Where’s our cutting edge? How do we unlock teams? We don’t have it.
“And we saw against Italy, and credit to them, fair play, they’ve won, but even by their standards they wouldn’t say they had a great game. They didn’t play amazing rugby. They had plenty of errors.
“This is three weeks in a row though, Coley. England’s progression — we’re not seeing improvement.
“England came into the tournament and I had high hopes, as did a lot of people. But we’re not seeing anything near what we saw previously. In fact the performances are getting worse.”
Youngs said the absence of any meaningful response across the tournament has been particularly concerning.
“So you’re thinking, right, you didn’t get a reaction after the Scotland game. We’ve got to see a reaction after the Ireland game surely. And we go to Rome and I don’t see anything again other than ‘let’s go to the air and try not to lose it.’”
For Youngs, the issue is clear.
“It’s 100 percent game plan. It’s 100 percent game plan.
“I played in that system. I know exactly what the messaging would have been. It would have been: turn them, make them exit, play from deep.
“If you’re going to kick the ball all game, then you don’t pick Finn Smith at 10. If your plan was to go to Italy and turn them, win territory and do all that, you play Ford at 10.
“For me, the reason they picked Smith and Seb Atkinson at 12 and Elliot Daly at full-back was to play more rugby. But they didn’t do that. In fact they probably played less. So therefore I’m even more confused by what’s going on.
“Don’t pick a team that’s good at being creative and having threat and then try to make them play like that [kicking the leather off the ball]. It doesn’t make sense.
“It’s like going ‘we’re going to scrum you off the park’ and then picking a tight five that’s really light and not renowned for scrummaging.
“You watch Northampton play. They move the ball. They make decisions. They build pressure ball in hand. They go multi-phase, they attack, they change the point of attack. It’s fast and fluid. We don’t see any of that [with England].
“You cannot say to me after the last three weeks that you genuinely believe that team has a chance to win a World Cup in the style they’re currently playing.”
Youngs also questioned whether the philosophical alignment between Borthwick and the type of players England are selecting is fundamentally flawed.
“You’ve got a coach that doesn’t believe in that philosophy. Yet he’s picking players that can play that brand. But he doesn’t believe in that brand.
“If you put a Michael Cheika in, for instance, he complements that style because he sees the value of going multi-phase, moving the ball and putting teams under pressure.
Six Nations
P
W
L
D
PF
PA
PD
BP T
BP-7
BP
Total
1
France
4
3
1
0
16
2
Scotland
4
3
1
0
16
3
Ireland
4
3
1
0
14
4
Italy
4
2
2
0
9
5
England
4
1
3
0
6
6
Wales
4
0
4
0
1
“Steve doesn’t see the value in that. He sees it as set-piece, high-kicking volume, territory battle, squeeze you and then squeeze you defensively.
“And I get that if we defend how we should defend; but even that we’re not getting right. We got exposed against Scotland, exposed against Ireland and exposed today [against Italy].
“Multi-phase isn’t valued within the system.
“So when they’re forced to do it, it’s probably fifth on the agenda behind set-piece, kicking game and defence.
“If you pick players whose best version of themselves is multi-phase rugby, then that has to be one of your top priorities.”
The former scrum-half also believes the pressure on Borthwick will inevitably intensify as England look ahead to a home Rugby World Cup.
“It does feel like a bit of a stick or twist moment when you think about Eddie in the autumn, that was less than a year away from the World Cup. You look at what New Zealand have just done. You look at Australia changing with Joe Schmidt at the end of the summer. Les Kiss is coming in. For a home nation hosting the World Cup.
“It does feel like someone has to make the call whether they genuinely believe that England can get there or they don’t.
“Those conversations will be happening. They almost have to be. We’d be fools if we think those conversations are not going to happen. Those conversations are happening in the wider world; whether they are happening in the RFU, I don’t know. I’m not privy to it.
“He [Borthwick] could well find the solutions. The coaching staff could find exactly what they’re short of. But even if they come up with the solutions, do the players buy into that solution? That’s the big thing now.
“I think when you go away to France it’s going to be really telling of where the group’s at.”
