Ex England captain claims Borthwick's team in midst of 'identity crisis'
England captain Dylan Hartley has voiced a concern that Steve Borthwick’s England is grappling with an identity crisis.
Hartley suggests that the team’s recent performances reflect a deeper issue than just fluctuating form or a run of bad luck. It’s about the how England want to play the game; an essence that seems to be slipping through their fingers as they struggle to find a cohesive and defining style of play.
Rumours this week suggest unrest in camp around the team’s lack of attacking ambition, with players privately questioning the heavy emphasis and Borthwick’s conservative kick and blitz approach.
“When you think about this England team, there is a big question around identity – there doesn’t seem to be one thing that you can hang your hat on and say “yes” that’s what this team is good at.
“When I look at England, I see a team that are trying to evolve their attacking game along with trying to have a world-class set piece, and a ’new level’ of defence, and at the moment, the defence is leaky and is exposing them. If you look at what the All Blacks do, it’s such a low-risk defence. They’re just up and out.
“They might concede five or ten yards, but then someone like Sam Cane or Ardie Savea can kind of seduce you into thinking that you’re making inroads, and they turn you over. There is an identity issue that England need to address. I’d like to see what parts of the game they can hang their hat on when the going gets tough. At Twickenham, if it starts pissing down with rain and they can expose Andrew Porter’s shoulder, it would be lovely to fall back on to a set piece and a watertight hard-nosed defence.”
Hartley contrasted Borthwick’s regime unfavourably with controversial ex-head coach Eddie Jones, implying Jones was way ahead in terms of making England a cohesive force.
“When Eddie Jones came into the team, he empowered the players. He focussed on two things: having the best set piece in the world and a world class defence built on attitude and pressure.
“He said that when he coached Australia, they deep down feared the England set piece. He feared our scrum. He feared our maul. He wanted us to be the best in the world at set piece and we practiced a lot. We talked the talk daily then ultimately started walking the walk.
“These are your fundamentals, your bread and butter. Without set piece, you struggle to win games. I think when refs and opposition know that you have that, it’s almost like your trump card.
“If there’s a scenario in the game where the balls knocked on, and you know you’re going to scrum, no worries. You can win the ball back. When we did knock the ball on, everyone in the team believed that we would win the ball back from the resulting scrum because we loved scrums.
“That was our mindset. It’s powerful. The second thing we focussed on was defensive attitude and pressure. Those were the two things we hung our hat on. He said to us: “We’re good rugby players. We have a good attacking shape, but the two things I want us to be best in the world at are defence and set piece.”
“By delivering that message to the players daily, he had an empowering effect on our mentality. If a coach goes into a team and says that they can do everything without having that proof in the pudding, I don’t think that’s very empowering,” said Hartley.
Comments on RugbyPass
“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.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 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.
2 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.
37 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
2 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…
1 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 commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
5 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
33 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
5 Go to comments