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The resurrection of Dan Cole and three other England talking points
It’s now or never on Saturday night for Steve Borthwick and struggling England. For nine months, the repeated rhetoric from the rookie Test-level head coach has been that he had a crap inheritance from Eddie Jones, that he was developing a restorative game plan, and that a winning blend wasn’t far away.
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Sadly, it hasn’t stacked up. Six wounding losses in nine outings – five defeats in the last six – is a testament to the foot-in-mouth lack of progress where it really matters, out on the field.
England have been a right old missed-tackle mess in conceding 30 tries in 2023. Their blunt attack has also been a brutal spectacle, while their inexperienced Test rugby coaching staff haven’t yet demonstrated that they are collectively capable of thriving at international level.
With recent results painfully going down the pan, Borthwick has bet the house on England beating Argentina at the start of this Rugby World Cup and everything that has previously happened getting instantly forgotten.
He’s right. A single 80 minutes can eclipse the unconvincing 720 that have gone before as the stakes are remarkably high in Marseille. Win and England have pool momentum and every chance of making the semi-finals on the weaker side of the draw.
Lose, though, and Borthwick will be facing the unthinkable – a defeat to Japan in Nice on September 17 and World Cup elimination just two games into their four-match group schedule.
Having been with the squad every step of the way so far at France 2023, starting out with the week at base camp in Le Touquet-Paris-Plage followed by the trip south on Thursday, RugbyPass sets the scene for a fixture that England can’t stuff up:
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The unlikely resurrection of Dan Cole
The last thing anyone would have predicted four years ago at the wounding end of the last World Cup was that Dan Cole would be the England No3 for the start of this latest campaign. He was reduced to a sweaty, crumpled lump by the Springboks scrum in Yokohama, a figure of fun for all the wrong reasons, and it resulted in three wilderness years under Jones where he was overlooked with his Test career seemingly finished.
Not so. Having coached him at Leicester in that time, Borthwick recalled Cole at the start of this year after he succeeded Jones and now, incredibly, after six non-descript appearances off the bench, the 36-year-old has followed up his start in the warm-up loss to Fiji a fortnight ago with selection to start against the Pumas.
England have had their scrum inconsistencies recently. For example, look at how they went from winning three penalties and grabbing nine first-half points in Cardiff at the start of August to that picture completely changing in the second half and the penalty decisions going the other way.
Asked by RugbyPass the other day at Le Touquet if he had a point to prove at Stade Velodrome given his last World Cup appearance was such a nightmare, Cole claimed: “No, no. I am happy to be in the squad, I’m here to help the squad be the best that we can be.
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“What has happened has happened. I have spent long enough thinking about it and moved on. I am more interested in what is about to happen than what has gone before.”
He is correct; it is all about the here and now. However, if he fails to suitably steel the pack against the Pumas, Cole’s selection ahead of the benched Will Stuart and the excluded Kyle Sinckler (who missed some training during the week) will become a stick to beat Borthwick with.
Sinfield’s reputation is on the line
Kevin Sinfield is a lovely, lovely man. Right now, though, he is in an unenviable position with England having leaked 30 tries in nine matches on his watch as their rookie Test-level defence coach – that’s a try on average every 24 minutes, which isn’t acceptable if you want to be successful in international rugby coaching.
The Leeds Rhinos playing legend at least has the right sort of people pumping his tyres at the minute. Sinfield revealed last Tuesday that Phil Larder, the ex-league coach who was in charge of the England defence when the 2003 Rugby World Cup was won, has regularly been in his ear to such an extent that he even warned him about the negativity of the UK media.
Larder, judging by what he has been saying to Sinfield, hasn’t forgotten his critical treatment over the leaky defence that saw England bomb out of the 1999 World Cup at the quarter-final stage. Four years later, he had helped Woodward and co conquer the world.
It’s an encouraging lesson for Sinfield to bite into, that things can get hugely better if you smartly persevere and use adversity in the right way. Right now, though, there is no evidence that England have the capability to properly shut the door on Argentina.
They had the cards excuse when conceding three tries to both Wales and Ireland last month, but there was no numerical imbalance straw to clutch when also conceding three tries to Fiji last time out and how they failed to exit and then defended poorly at 22-23 with the result in the balance was terrible, England going on to lose 22-30. That sloppiness just can’t be repeated.
Mitchell quip doesn’t sound inspiring
A remark by Alex Mitchell at his eve-of-match media briefing at the Velodrome piqued the interest as it highlighted how playing for England currently is all about a dull collective structure rather than you being allowed to be the player that you instinctively are from the start.
England’s creativity has been blunt all year, from Nick Evans’ temporary involvement to the summer arrival of Richard Wigglesworth. It just hasn’t happened for them in attack. However, rather than let the shackles off and stop England from being so, so predictable, it appears that no matter who gets a shirt it’s about sticking to the rugby-by-numbers plan rather than having a cut.
Asked what he is hoping to bring on Saturday night, Mitchell replied: “Just for me I have just got to try and control the game, get the team to tick and when I can put some energy and tempo into the side I will try and do that. But again, it’s stick to the game plan.”
Sticking to the game plan hasn’t got England anywhere in 2023 and although Mitchell is set for just the second start of his fledgling Test career inside a fortnight, the message is that even though he has a canny knack at club level of breaking defences with sniping runs, that approach is proscribed with England and the instruction is to instead either pass the ball to George Ford or to repeatedly box-kick it away. That doesn’t sound inspiring.
The very different selection from 10 months ago
There are good omens to be found for England if they search hard enough. For instance, the last time Saturday’s referee Mathieu Raynal was in charge of Borthwick’s side, they defeated Wales in Cardiff last February in the Guinness Six Nations and only conceded six penalties to Wales’ nine. Twelve years ago, as well, England beat the Pumas 13-9 in Dunedin when the countries previously clashed at the start of a Rugby World Cup.
However, a very different type of stat highlights that this is very much the Borthwick show and that he can’t keep on blaming Jones for the lingering rot. It was last November when England were beaten 29-30 by Argentina at Twickenham, a match that the then-Leicester boss watched at home just weeks before he was to become Jones’ successor.
Just five of that Autumn Nations Series match day 23 – Freddie Steward, Manu Tuilagi, Ellis Genge, Maro Itoje and Tom Curry – are on the teamsheet for this Stade Velodrome rematch, so blaming inheritance will no longer wash.
This is Borthwick’s England and he is in dire need of a result to radically change the optics of his underwhelming tenure.
Comments on RugbyPass
It’s going to be Scott Barrett. He’s the coaches mate and captain of a previously elite team. Ardie a great option but scooter has worked with the coach and Ardie still as big a leader as needed.
22 Go to commentsI commend Colin Scotts bio All Balls. He was the first Aussie to make it to NFL. But he was poached and did a full apprenticeship at the University of Hawaii. He was 130kgs surfed played 1st grade cricket etc. big guy by normal but not NFL standards and a top athlete. Even then the nfl were picking up Tongans and Samoans for their natural size and explosive power. They want explosive power not cardio from the big boys so a guy like Taniela Tupou would have been good if picked up young enough. He has fast twitch and they’d bulk the little lad up and give him something to do. soccer teams set up academies and look for Over Sara’s talent eg Messi was at Barcelona since a teenager and harry kewell went to Leeds as a teenager like 16 or something.
11 Go to commentsThe article alludes to the fact that this isn’t about picking a captain. But picking a great captain. So who would make for a great All Black captain - not just an obvious or safe shoo-in? I’m not sure Ardie’s the guy and Barret doesn’t stand out either.
22 Go to commentsI guess we may all agree on the fact, that the ABs and Boks are the two in contest for No 1 in rugby history (the triple-A sort of) …. the Wallabies, England and France are the next tier, with Ireland being the new kid in town (AA) …. in my view it makes little sense creating imaginary competitions (unless you have too much time to waste)
44 Go to commentsWhat a joke. Total joke and the pundits commentating, all of whom know a bit about the game, could barely disguise their contempt. Reaching for the card then pulling back when he realised a red card would carry further match suspensions is simply not his decision to make. A clear and obvious influence on the outcome of this match and indeed, the championship path.
4 Go to commentsI like the idea, in NZ the Ranfurly Shield and NPC coexist, both having their own bragging rights. The World Cup would be the pinnacle, but the competition and travels of these trophies would be interesting.
44 Go to commentsDon’t worry Sonny bill Williams leave that awkward situation about the curfew in the pass whoever it was it doesn’t matter its no big deal we back our All Blacks through the storm and the thunder until we see the Sun light again.
42 Go to commentsWho listens to this retard? He was a massive liability as a player but obviously a media sensation
42 Go to commentsI’m not surprised by such ‘virtue signalling’ by Sonny Boy. Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. He’s such a pious Islamic muppet, imo.
42 Go to commentsI’ve actually never heard of the guy (then I don’t watch League as it is boring). But if he is good enough.. then good luck to him. If not, well, he can always return to league.
2 Go to commentsIt is pretty clear that by almost any measure that NZ are a more successful rugby nation than South Africa. Quite aside from the distasteful events during the last RWC final. NZ lead SA in all significant measurements.
44 Go to commentsDickson went to his pocket for a card, saw who it was, changed his mind and spoke at length to TMO. One angle clearly shows Care diving over a Saints player to kill the ball. 1st yellow, reason given for not Red was player was falling backwards. He was only falling backwards after contact with Lawes. Graham try should have stood. Mitchell did not have both hands on the ball, ball went forward from a Saints boot dragging over it. 2 intentional knock-on's. One of which had an overlap on the outside. If Quins are happy to win by intentional foul play, then it does not say much for them. Would appear to be a bad day for Karl Dickson, also for the RFU in appointing a Ref who spent 8 years as a player at one of the clubs.
4 Go to commentsLet’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
7 Go to commentsThe URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
2 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.
7 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
4 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 comments