'Rugby in general is going that way and we realised that a little bit too late'

Former England captain Jamie George has said that the national team were too slow to adapt to how rugby has evolved during the Guinness Six Nations, but expects the team to be “right up there” at the World Cup next year.

Steve Borthwick’s side entered the Six Nations this year on an 11-match winning streak and off the back of a promising autumn campaign, but the pillars of their success, chiefly their aerial supremacy and dominance up front, were nowhere near as potent or rewarding.

While the side were still able to get in good positions, a common theme in the Championship was the chronic inability to convert pressure into points, with their meagre points-per-22-entry one of the damning statistics in a campaign defined by unwanted records for England.

Following two dismal losses to Scotland and Ireland, George has said that there was a “realisation that phase play and multi-phase attack were important,” and while a first-ever defeat to Italy followed, the Championship concluded with a far more promising performance against eventual winners France, losing 48-46 in heartbreaking fashion in Paris.

With world number ones South Africa awaiting England in Johannesburg in July in the Nations Championship, George said he is “excited about the years leading into the World Cup” when speaking to former England team-mate Ben Youngs and Dan Cole on the For the Love of Rugby podcast recently, highlighting the influence of “one of the best attack coaches in the world”, Lee Blackett.

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Nations Championship

South Africa

08:40

4 Jul 26

England

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“We were poor,” the centurion said when reflecting on England’s campaign, which saw them finish fifth with only one win for the first time in the competition’s history. “I think there was so much excitement coming into it and so much expectation. I think we didn’t deal well with that. I think we embraced it rather than parking it and being focused on it.

“It is a cliché answer, but the best teams I’ve been a part of just go day by day, get better, get better, get better. So we probably got a little bit carried away with it. I’m still so optimistic about what the team can do though. I think we are a brilliant team. I think we have got all the right things in place to be very, very successful. I just think, yes, we got it wrong.

“We started well against Wales. I think tactically we got things wrong against Scotland and Ireland in particular, and then we basically didn’t have a plan B to come back. No one has a plan B when you go 20 points down, but we hadn’t really focused too much on phase attack, for example. When you’re then chasing 20 points, you’re going, ‘we need phase, we need phase,’ and we hadn’t really put our eggs in that basket.

“As you know, going into a Six Nations, you need to focus on certain things. You can’t focus on everything. We focused on a few other things and then it became very, very difficult for us to pull it back.

“I think rugby in general is going that way and we probably realised that a little bit too late, off the back of the Scotland performance and then you come up against Ireland, who are onto a good thing with great players.

“There was the realisation that phase play and multi-phase attack were important. We’ve got one of the best attack coaches in the world in my opinion, Lee Blackett. I think he’s brilliant. He was then given more time, more licence and more focus on multi-phase attack, and it was like, actually, we look really good doing this. We’ve got some amazing players if you give them time and space.

“They were great learnings for us moving forward. We’ve got a tough one first up, but I’m excited about us in the summer and I’m excited about the years leading into the World Cup. I honestly think with our player pool, the coaches that we have and the game plans that we’re going to have, we’ll be right up there.”