The bold call Borthwick must make after abject Samoa showing – Andy Goode
Steve Borthwick has some huge decisions to make after England’s abject showing against Samoa, especially at fly half, and he has to be bold.
It always felt like George Ford and Owen Farrell were both selected at the weekend because he didn’t want to choose between them and had been forced into a corner by the former’s form and the latter’s captaincy status but this team ain’t big enough for the both of them now.
He has to make a big call and if the opposition was different I’d be tempted to stick with Ford but Fiji are going to send big runner after big runner down the number 10 channel and Ford might not be missing many tackles but he’s soaking them up and England are losing ground.
Opting for Farrell is also the safer or less controversial decision and Borthwick isn’t someone who naturally wants to ruffle feathers. The Saracens man clearly drives standards but it does seem like he has a looming presence that can also have a negative effect on those around him when he’s either playing second fiddle or not on top of his game.
It feels like groundhog day discussing this again but I honestly don’t think Ford and Farrell have shone alongside one another, or even that Farrell has had a really good game at centre, since the World Cup semi-final four years ago.
You can’t pick on past glory or in the belief that the magic from one game four years ago, however exceptional it was, will suddenly resurface when it matters most and that selection obviously has a massive knock-on effect in other areas of the team.
You have to pick on form and Joe Marchant has been playing well. He’s capable of playing on the wing but can’t have as much of an impact on proceedings from there so he should be paired with Manu Tuilagi in the centres again for the quarter-final.
That would free up a spot on the wing for five-try Henry Arundell to come in and add a bit of much-needed stardust and game-breaking ability to the backline, as well as just looking like there are fewer square pegs in round holes.
I’d actually change both wingers because I think Jonny May is another who is being picked on what he’s done in years gone by rather than his threat to opposition defences in the here and now.
We know Borthwick is massively driven by data and he will have his own metrics that probably show that the Gloucester man is more effective at chasing kicks and being in the right position but he’s 33 and has clearly lost a yard of pace.
I’d be picking Elliot Daly as well as Arundell and his ability to cover a multitude of positions and his enormous left boot could be major advantages in the knockout stages.
I can’t see there being many, if any, changes in the forwards, even if they did struggle against the Samoans as well. Dan Cole is probably most under threat but Borthwick will probably back him to do a job on the Fijian set piece.
I’m not sure any of them are playing particularly well but the reality is that there just isn’t really anyone breathing down the necks of the likes of Maro Itoje, Ellis Genge, Courtney Lawes and Tom Curry.
There has to be a change in mindset though. Lawes speaks really well and has admitted that England’s DNA is their ability in defence and building attack off kicks that they’ve retrieved but I don’t think that is the way to beat Fiji.
Simon Raiwalui’s men might have been far from their best but Portugal showed the blueprint for how to beat them by getting the ball wide and playing with a high tempo in order to fatigue them.
They still utilised the kicking game plenty but there were a lot of short kicks rather than just hoofing the ball long and asking Fiji to play from deep and they were happy to keep the ball in hand as well in a way that we haven’t seen England do for a while.
When you watch a team like Portugal play as they have done in this tournament and you also look at how Ireland, at the other of the spectrum, retain possession and manipulate defences, you wonder why England have adopted the game plan that they have.
Evidently, Borthwick believes it’s the best chance he has of winning or he wouldn’t be doing it but it’s like going back to the dark ages, or the 1990s at least, and it is far from exciting to watch regardless of how much the head honcho talks about his excitement levels.
Just 34% of England’s rucks on Saturday were under three seconds, which is around half of what you might expect from a top team that is playing with intent, and when they do get the ball away from the breakdown their thinking is muddled.
When your ball is slow the opposition defence has had chance to reorganise and it’s more difficult to attack but you have to question England’s decision making when they’re getting into the opposition 22 as many as 17 times and only coming away with a couple of tries.
Maybe the England coaching staff will say that it’s all part of the plan with work going on behind the scenes after a two-week break since the previous game and a three-week gap for quite a lot of players who didn’t feature in the Chile match.
That was the explanation for the poor performances in the Summer Nations Series and England certainly looked fitter in their opening games against Argentina and Japan, even if they didn’t set the world alight, but we can only judge on what we see on the pitch.
Fiji should be buoyed by the return of Semi Radradra and the adrenalin of a first quarter-final for 16 years will carry them a long way but they’ve had four energy-sapping encounters thus far and the tank has looked like it’s running low in the past couple of games.
Maybe England’s superior fitness will tell but I think we need a change in the game plan if we’re going to really stress the Fijians and try to exploit that and create opportunities to attack off the back of it.
England’s players have looked like they’re playing in a straitjacket for a long time now, since well before Borthwick took the reins, so we aren’t going to see the game plan ripped up and them playing with freedom but there has to be a bit of room for manoeuvre.
Most importantly, we need one fly half out there. I fully expect it to be England’s new all-time leading points scorer but you can make a case for either. Borthwick simply has to pick one, though, and not be afraid of upsetting the applecart.
Comments on RugbyPass
Think it was a great defensive performance by Northampton. They didn't have stage fright in the first half, the Nienaber defense smothered them. They limited Leinster to 15-3 in the first half. It could have been over by then. A great try from Leinster in the start of the second half looked to have sealed it. But Byrne missed another conversion. Northampton started trying little kicks behind the Leinster wingers. Leinster messed one and Smith brilliantly made the conversion. Leinster decided to tighten the game after Byrne missed a straight forward penalty. A few errors got NH into the 22 and they scored and converted with a few minutes left. Another brilliant steal from Lawes saw NH have a final attack which was turned over by Conan. A classic semi final. World record attendance of 82,300. Leinsters 3 week preparation warranted for this one.
1 Go to commentsJust came back from the game and the atmosphere was amazing. Players stayed afterwards for more than a hour to sign stuff and take photos with fans. Great day out.
5 Go to commentsA great game. The Sharks without Etsebeth are a shadow of the team compared to when he plays. The limitations of Some of the expensive Sharks players are being exposed. Credit to Clermont for some exhilaration play at times.
5 Go to comments100% Mr Owens. But who would want to be a referee.? It must be the most difficult job on earth.
1 Go to commentsStarts to be overdone and oversold this systematic SA narrative…which nevertheless has the merit in this case to recognise blatant refereeing mistakes in their favor
5 Go to commentsNice article. Shades of Steinbeck. They can win the final if they take the game seriously; but only if they take it seriously.
5 Go to commentsWhat a sad way to end a glittering career. Somebody should tell him to delete his social media accounts and face the consequences of what he's done. Then he should slip away quietly into obscurity. This isn't likely to happen, something tells me he'll be back in The Sun / Daily Mail sooner rather than later.
3 Go to commentsguys its fine! he understands why he did what he did and has taken accountability for it; why should he have to be accountable to a court? after all he did was abuse people in person - its not as if he was engaging in _online_ abuse!
3 Go to commentsChiefs flanker Kaylum Boshier yellow-carded for collapsing the scrum as it rolled towards the line. It was a maul….
1 Go to commentsyou know, i’m a leinster fan so I want Northampton to lose and it is gonna be tuff with Cortney lawes, Alex michell and the other guys🏉 lets go leinster🏉
1 Go to commentsWelcome to the Pro ranks. Those hard teams of old do hit the sole better though. its a dog fight at the top.
6 Go to commentsCan someone fill me in please, I've read a number of Ben Smith articles now and it seems he's got something again South Africa? Surely, this game was over and done with 7 months ago. Can't we have something a bit more interesting and relevant, or is this the calibre of journalist on this site?
235 Go to commentsNot sure what the Welsh are moaning about. They’ve had far more players off England, than England have had off Wales. Guys like Josh Hathaway and Kane James will play for Wales in the end. And they’ll be fsr better players for having played in the Gallagher Premiership, than they ever would have been had they stayed mired in the shambles that is Welsh rugby.
4 Go to commentsThis is all being blown totally out of proportion. First of all, since half the Irish team isn’t Irish - it’s very likely that none of the Irish players said that at all and, thus, we’re not being arrogant. Second, since half the Irish team is Kiwi - it’s very likely the Kiwi players were predicting a NZ SA World Cup final. Which they got spot on. Good on them!
163 Go to commentsAha. An Irishman with logic! Follow the flow: - Ireland peaks with a >80% win record between 2020 and 2023. And then… - crashes out of another QF at the WC; - Beat a poor French Team; - Beat 6N wooden spoonists Italy; - Play shite against eventual wooden spoonists Wales; - Lose against the most boring, “the worst English team ever” , a team widely regarded as unable to attack; - scrape through against Scotland. This article, No - Trimble, is on the money! Except for one glaring statement: _The Springboks have a few aces in the hole in this debate being the reigning world champions and official world number ones_ There is no debate, boys and girls. There it is. In black and white. “Reigning World Champions and OFFICIAL world number ones”. Come July, the overrated Andy Farrell and this overhyped team are going to enter into a world of hurt.
90 Go to commentsI’d like to know what homoerotic events Daniel enjoyed at 8th man. I clearly missed out!
19 Go to commentsThis article is missing some detail, like some actual context or info about what led to him abusing the ref.
2 Go to comments*They used to say that football is a gentleman sport watched by hooligans and rugby is a hooligan sport watched by gentlemen. How times have changed.*
3 Go to commentsexcept ot wasnt late wasnt late at all so dont know why you all saying its late he commits early and its your fault fir not paying attention
30 Go to commentsNot sure the Bulls need another average utility back in their ranks. Chamberlain has been ok for the Sharks but is by no means an X-Factor player. Bulls bought several utility backs which they barely use. A typical example would be Henry Immelman who plays mostly Fullback. The Bulls however have rarely played him this year and he has played wing or centre. Bulls want to build depth but seems like they have too many surplus players
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