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LONG READ Mick Cleary: 'England are not far off. But the margin is there. It’s palpable.'

Mick Cleary: 'England are not far off. But the margin is there. It’s palpable.'
2 weeks ago

Another day, another douleur. The pain was etched everywhere, notably at the post-match pitch-side inquest on the face of recently-retired England all-time good guy, Courtney Lawes, who faced the mother-of-all battles to make a convincing case as to why any of us should still believe in this set-up after such a wretched autumn. Lawes is a defender of the faith, understandably so perhaps given that he is so soon out of the Twickenham nest. He scrapped and ducked and weaved to make his point, as feisty and resistant as ever he was when in the shirt himself, but to no avail.

Instead it was the pointed views of another former Lion, Ugo Monye, that hit home. Monye refuses to accept the tired old mantra that things will inevitably get better as if elite sport were akin to a gentleman’s excuse-me where others will simply move out of your way to give you your turn on the dance floor. Tell that to Ireland and France who are England’s first two opponents in the 2025 Six Nations championship. It’ll take more than a few strident New Year’s resolutions to go into those fixtures with any degree of confidence.

Of course, England are not far off. But the margin is there. It’s palpable. It’s a differential of doom. It’s on the scoreboard and in the record books. Ireland held out against Argentina. France did so too against New Zealand. England did not. Not against the All Blacks. Not against Australia. And, more palpably, not against the Springboks who did not have to play particularly well for their victory. That’s the sum of it. These results should not be sugar-coated with ifs and buts and maybes. International sport is about the result. Nothing more. It’s why the stadium has been full to the rafters. That’s the unspoken deal between professional and spectator. We pay, you play.

England rugby
England are on the cusp of crisis after a fifth consecutive narrow loss (Photo Bob Bradford/Getty Images)

Sure, you might forgive the occasional blip in exchange for a rousing performance. And, to be fair, the last three weekends have provided a decent day out. But how many England fans feel satisfied at this juncture? How many have trust in the management to deliver in the New Year and beyond? The RFU do, apparently. Steve Borthwick has never been a man for the spotlight, never prepared to be a performing seal in front of camera or microphone. Fair enough. But when he says that he is not going to reveal the content of what he deems ‘private conversations,’ between him and the RFU hierarchy he needs to be aware that the team is not his alone. It belongs to the public, as does the RFU to its members. They deserve better. They deserve disclosure. They deserve to know what lay behind the coaching fiasco that saw two top operators, Aled Walters and Felix Jones, leave so unexpectedly. They need reassurance as to why Joe El-Abd is the man to marshal England’s defence through to the next World Cup. Moyne called up a graphic on TNT Sports on Saturday evening detailing El-Abd’s current record at Oyonnax. It didn’t make for make for uplifting reading.

Once again, England gave up tries too easily, far too easily.

Once again, England gave up tries too easily, far too easily. The brilliance of the likes of Grant Williams and Cheslin Kolbe – so much for the ill-judged stereotype depiction of Springboks as all brawn and not much else  – is one thing and there is little doubt that such individual genius will breach the sternest of defences but the build-up to their opportunities was slack, flabby and unacceptable. So too the early charge-down on Jack van Poortvliet’s attempted clearance. And the small but costly hair-trigger throw of hooker, Luke Cowan-Dickie. The rushed kicks through at various times by Ollie Lawrence and Freddie Steward. The Leicester full-back did at least do as it says on the tin and rise high to catch most everything that came his way but his attacking capabilities are not those of George Furbank.

In many ways, Steward’s selection encapsulates England’s current predicament. As was once said of New Zealand cricketer, Bob Cunis, ‘neither one thing nor the other,’ England seem unsure of who they are and what they want to be. Do they blitz or do they drift? Do they play the boring percentages or do they go hell-for-leather?

England have small details to rectify – their guard defence is atrocious with Ellis Genge once again left exposed while their restart play, both contesting and receiving, is also markedly sub-standard but the nub of the matter is their identity. We know what the Springboks are, albeit they have added those magical attacking layers in recent years, so too New Zealand and Australia but we do not know what England want to be defined by. It used to be strong set-piece and clever, structured build-up. Post the miserable Scotland Six Nations loss, Borthwick’s team appeared to have had a cathartic moment and cleansed themselves of doubt and uncertainty and gone for broke. It worked.

At least the prospect of Smith leading the way into 2025 can put a smile on the faces of England fans. The debate as to who should wear the No 10 shirt has been well and truly settled.

And now? We don’t know. And, more crucially, they don’t appear to know. That is the consequence of defeats. Losses, even narrow ones, matter. They erode self-belief very quickly.

So much for the doom-laden ledger of account. Better that way then taking refuge in running the southern hemisphere close. (It would have been very interesting if England’s final fixture were against the Pumas rather than Japan which should be, even for a morale-battered England, a comfortable win). There were some upbeat moments. Once again, Marcus Smith, was in the box seat, organising, scheming, spotting chances, delivering appropriately. At least the prospect of Smith leading the way into 2025 can put a smile on the faces of England fans. The debate as to who should wear the No 10 shirt has been well and truly settled.

England v South Africa
England lost another arm-wrestle and Steve Borthwick needs to beat Japan to finish the year with a mediocre 42 per cent win record (Photo Patrick Khachfe/Getty Images)

If only the same were true for the man inside him. Van Poortvliet’s display form made you wonder as to why Ben Spencer was dropped. Alex Mitchell’s return can’t come soon enough. As for the centre pairing – and few would have disputed their selections -they have been underwhelming, even though Slade wrapped around well for Ollie Sleightholme’s try. Time for Tommy Freeman to be given a try at centre?

Sam Underhill’s return to the colours was a boon. If only England could trade some of their stock of outstanding flankers for other positions. Underhill did as Underhill does – gritty, present, involved, taking his try well.

England are adrift when it matters, unable to react to what is happening around them.

There was an impassioned-looking huddle after the final whistle with Genge seeming to lay down the law. England need more of that when it really matters. Certainly their split-leadership system, with Jamie George routinely replaced around 50 minutes, does not appear to work. England are adrift when it matters, unable to react to what is happening around them.

Reacting to the mood of the moment now becomes of paramount important. Lawes was asked if this is ‘a crisis,’ for England. Not yet, perhaps. But who can state that with any real confidence?

Comments

19 Comments
J
JH 15 days ago

Rassie has played over 50 players this year - always looking towards the next RWC. In his first year, he also struggled and only won 50% of his games.

England are 80% of the way to being a RWC contender, but Borthwick needs to start capping new players and trying new combinations. I can see England challenging for the 6N - they have France at Twickers and Ireland away; both possible victories if they can play for 80 minutes - many aspects are looking good/excellent.

Personally, I think that he should be more risky with his bench - against SA you could almost see the energy sap away when the ‘damp squib squad’ came on; not a bomb squad.

T
TD 16 days ago

England suffer from the lowest of expectations. They lose and there is a cavalcade of excuses that come from inside the camp and outside of it. A South African, French, or Kiwi team losing like they have, at home, would not be making these excuses nor treated with such deference.


South Africa and NZ both go through rebuilds and both are expected to win whilst rebuilding. Meanwhile, England is given credit for their physical "play style" and playing the best teams "close".

A
AA 16 days ago

Agreed .

England not far off and will be far better at 6 nations.

Borthwick just has to get the Leicester centric mind out of his limited thinking.

Dropping Spencer, one of the most accurate box kickers in prem for yet another leics player .

Dropped Furbank for another Leics player.

Ok he did well under the high ball but hey, S Africa were playing with 2 speedsters and as someone pointed out , getting 17 stone to turn is problematic.

Surely Furbank would have been better all round .

Also . Pick a captain that can stay on the pitch 80 mins .

Not a part timer. .

This is where Borthwick shows his naievety and blinkered tactics .

Get rid of the old players who are holding the ream back .

Lastly , just like the England football team who the press talk up to sell papers etc , when push comes to shove we are found out as second rate . .

Smith was the only player who has come out of these games with any credit

And yet, there are still morons calling for perennially overated Ford to be in the team.

Look at Pollard if you want to see class closing out games.

Pick a team and stick with it .

Let them gel over several games and then we will see vast improvement .

f
fl 15 days ago

JVP is a more accurate box-kicker than Spencer.


Ford is the closest England have to Pollard.

T
Tom 16 days ago

The problem is... It's not that England are "far off" it's that in some areas they're already as good as any team in the world and in other areas they are so far off it's hard to see where far off is anymore... And what's worrying is they seem somewhat unaware of what those issues are and/or are showing no signs of improvement or that they're even trying to fix them. They also of course have no strength in depth in some positions.. but more than anything they just don't have the right coaches. Whether or not Borthwick is the man for the job, he's not going to achieve anything with Wigglesworth and El Abd

f
fl 16 days ago

"If only England could trade some of their stock of outstanding flankers for other positions"


could try CCS at 4?

f
fl 16 days ago

(I don't actually think England should do this, given Chessum, Itoje, and Martin are so good. I guess CCS could be the fourth choice lock, and an injury crisis at lock could see CCS, Curry, Underhill, and Earl all on the field at once).

S
SK 16 days ago

England need a win against a top tier side and badly. Psychologically the Ireland game was meant to be their turning point but the AB's, Boks and Wallabies have negated the progress made by that landmark win. They have essentially taken two steps back.

N
Nickers 16 days ago

They have the uncanny ability to only play 90% as well as the team they are playing. If they play a worse team they reduce how well they play, play a better team they increase, but always to 90% of the team they are playing rather than their own ability.


Had they played as well against Australia or NZ as they did against SA they would have won both games comfortably.

N
NigelGhost 16 days ago

From what I saw on Saturday, England are now where the Boks were pre-Rassie - get themselves into good positions but don't finish off the chances. They had so many penalties in the last 20 minutes but couldn't convert into points - the Boks used to be like this (infuriatingly so) circa 2015.

R
RedWarrior 16 days ago

If Borthwich allows the England players more scope to think on their feet find the space then they can finish these matches. Not far off.

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