'England break down after three phases and run out of ideas'
Former Test winger James Simpson-Daniel has delivered a withering assessment of the England attack under Steve Borthwick ahead of Saturday’s Rugby World Cup opener against Argentina.
The English are set to fly south from their Le Touquet-Paris-Plage base camp on Thursday afternoon ahead of their opener in Marseille and they travel with Simpson-Daniel becoming the latest ex-international to heap heavy criticism on them.
England have arrived into the tournament on the back of five defeats in their last six matches, and six defeats in their nine outings so far since Steve Borthwick took charge from the ousted Eddie Jones.
Defence has been a massive problem – England have conceded 30 tries in 2023 – but their blunt attack has also been a massive hindrance.
For example, Jonny May’s ninth-minute try versus Fiji on August 26 was the first by a back since Ollie Lawrence dotted down in the 75th minute against Wales last February.
In between, England went five full matches without a back being a try-scorer. “England are so predictable and limited with our attack,” bemoaned Simpson-Daniel, speaking to OLBG. “If we are five metres out we do what everyone else does, pick and go.
“When you bring it back to the 22, it’s like we will crash someone up. If we don’t make much ground, cross-field kick and if we claim it back, okay. We break down after three phases and run out of ideas.
“When I have watched Saracens play they have got an amazing attack. They all know what they are doing, there is a very quick ruck and they get the ball away quickly. They are keeping defences guessing and even if they do read it they have so many options.
“Bear in mind England have gone for the Saracens core among their senior players. If we don’t make the pick and go work, we struggle and cross-kick. We don’t try to develop a penalty advantage with quick ball, catching the opponents offside. We are so limited with our ideas.”
Simpson-Daniel, who has 10 caps, was a fringe player left out of the squad when England won the 2003 Rugby World Cup under Clive Woodward. He described their recent Summer Nations Series loss to Fiji at Twickenham as their worst display in the professional era, adding that their indiscipline is incredibly frustrating.
“The loss to Fiji was one of the worst performances England have produced in 30 years. We have had several years of stumbling along. As a former player, to see it is very disheartening.
“What was really deflating after the Fiji game was the fact those conditions should have suited us. They should have totally been against Fiji – and they have come to Twickenham and won reasonably easily.
“Fiji played all the rugby in the conditions, their set-piece held up and they had at last found a goal kicker. They covered us off in all areas which was why it was so deflating.
“English discipline is also so poor it’s getting ridiculous. That is clearly an issue going into the World Cup. Yellow cards and red cards abound. There are things you can control. I had a coach at school who said we might have a terrible rugby side but there are certain things you could control – such as discipline and fitness.
“Being sloppy is what is frustrating to a player and the fans. You can see sloppy penalties, laziness and not getting back onside. You can control the simple things in the game even when you are not firing. That is what is so frustrating, not playing a great brand of rugby, making poor decisions and indiscipline.”
The unimpressive August has generated fears that England – the 2019 finalists – might repeat their 2015 World Cup and fail to get out of a group that also contains Japan, Chile and Samoa, as well as Saturday’s first opponents Argentina. Yet, Simpson-Daniel has called on fans to keep the faith.
“England might not get out of the group. Looking at the form, why would you think they could? The gap between the supposed top nations and those in the so-called tier two has clearly been bridged. However, if you are England, you would think we sit a little above those and have the capability to beat them in a close match.
“Don’t give up on England yet. People might say I’m mad but when you break it down into small plays it doesn’t take a lot to top the group and get into a semi-final and that’s unbelievable really. The World Cup draw is incredible – how can half of the top four teams not make it to the semi-final stage?
“Two of the top four in the world aren’t going to make it to the semi-finals. That’s incredible. How can that be right? But from an England perspective on their side of the draw, it’s an incredibly disappointing Australia side and Wales will be having their own jitters.”
Comments on RugbyPass
The URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
1 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
1 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
3 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
3 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
3 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to comments