Jake White hammers England team who lack ‘toughness’, can’t ‘scrummage’ and their ‘crazy’ decision ahead of Springboks clash
England head coach Steve Borthwick watches on as his team huddles, and ex-Springboks boss Jake White.
Former Springboks boss Jake White has slammed England and the RFU in a withering attack ahead of the clash at Twickenham on Saturday.
Steve Borthwick’s men are currently on a run of four consecutive defeats having missed out narrowly to the All Blacks (three times) and the Wallabies.
All the games have been close but this Red Rose outfit seem unable to get over the line, which White suggests is a lack of “toughness.”
‘It’s a mystery’
“I actually asked one of my Bulls players this week, who had played in the Premiership, ‘why can’t they transfer how tough and attritional that league [is], week-in, week-out, into how they front up when they pull on the Red Rose’,” he wrote in his RugbyPass column.
“I don’t see the toughness – and I want to emphasise that word – and resilience and it’s a mystery why.
“I know I reference my generation regularly, but you can reel those legends off without missing a beat; Vickery, Thomson, White, Johnson, Grewcock, Dallaglio, Hill, Back, Dawson, Wilkinson, Tindall, Greenwood and so on. Right now, I don’t see any England player making that team.
“They can’t blame naivety either. This is a professional team that has been together for a while. They fielded 861 caps in that 23-man squad against Australia, nearly 40 caps a man, so they can’t waive the inexperience card.
“Maro Itoje had 85 caps, Jamie George 94, and Dan Cole 116 caps – there should be no lack of leadership on the park.”
After winning the Rugby World Cup in 2003, they have since failed to repeat that success. England did reach two finals, in 2007 and 2019, but they were beaten by the Springboks on both occasions.
White coached the ‘07 South Africa team where they faced a gnarly English pack, something he feels is lacking now.
In particular, the scrum is a weapon that has disappeared from their armoury, with the set-piece struggling over the last few years.
Most recently, they were bested in the front-row by the All Blacks and the Wallabies, which does not bode well for their upcoming clash with the Boks.
“I’m also worried about their scrum. It’s funny, in the Southern Hemisphere, when players are left to play for a French or Premiership club, the one thing you were guaranteed they’d improve overseas is their scrummaging and mauling, you know fundamentals of the set-piece. That’s why players go there,” White wrote.
“When I look at this England team, the one thing they can’t do is scrummage. They are going to get demolished on Saturday by the Bok scrum they can’t stop and they could have 10 training sessions this week, swot up on video analysis and talk about it until the cows come home but I don’t think it will make a difference.”
Advantage lost
England should have had at least one advantage with Felix Jones still supposedly part of their backroom team.
Jones, who was a key factor in the Springboks’ World Cup wins in 2019 and 2023, was signed up by Borthwick and started work ahead of the 2024 Six Nations, but he tendered his resignation after the All Blacks series.
The Irishman is currently serving his 12-month notice period and is reportedly now working remotely as an analyst, but neither players nor coaches were able to shed light on his actual role within the England set-up, which left White bemused.
“I’m also flummoxed by the Felix Jones situation. I understand he’s still being paid by the RFU and yet they’re not tapping into his IP on the Boks. It’s crazy,” he added.
White concluded that “it’s hard to make excuses” for England when they should have the resources to be one of the dominant nations in the sport.
“The RFU are the richest union in the world. They have a powerful Premiership, and they produce the most players,” he wrote.
“Does English rugby have a soft underbelly? You tell me, but if I was doing an audit on my investment, the RFU are definitely not getting the maximum return on their expenditure.”
