Opinion: England need a ‘full clear-out’ ahead of Six Nations as Steve Borthwick must ‘pick on form, not favourites’
England had a disappointing Autumn Nations Series under Steve Borthwick.
England’s Autumn Nations Series campaign ended on a positive note with a strong 59-14 win over Japan, but on the whole, it was dismal.
Three defeats to Tier One outfits, where England were in control for large parts of the game, shouldn’t be an acceptable outcome given the resources and talent at Steve Borthwick’s disposal, but it proves that the England senior side is in desperate need of a full clear-out if they want to properly attack the Six Nations next year.
Time to detonate the squad?
There’s no easy way of saying this, but this autumn could be the last time we see some players don the famous red rose.
There are potentially some starters who could be in trouble ahead of the Six Nations. Tommy Freeman and George Furbank improved as the series went on, but it still wasn’t near their form from last year, Ellis Genge was caught out on a number of occasions in defence, enforcer George Martin was particularly quiet in attack despite his impressive defensive efforts and Jack van Poortvliet struggled to make much of an impact upon his return to the nine jersey, but he was restricted to playing a game suited to Ben Spencer (which makes the dropping of the Bath man that much more confusing!).
I’ve also been hyper-critical of the centre partnership this autumn, but again you feel the Henry Slade-Ollie Lawrence axis (in whatever guise) has run its course and it’s time to blood in someone new here. Lawrence ended the campaign the better of the two, which could spell the end of Slade in Borthwick‘s side once again.
The biggest takeaway from this Autumn Nations Series, by far, is the fact England‘s failure to close out games proves Borthwick got a lot of his bench selections wrong.
The likes of Theo Dan, Nick Isiekwe, Alex Dombrandt and the usually reliable George Ford – all talented players – just couldn’t get the job done, and almost sapped the energy from the squad upon their arrival.
Elsewhere, Dan Cole certainly deserves a better send-off considering his service to the shirt, but you feel he too might have had his last hurrah at Test level after being torn apart in the scrum on several occasions.
Whilst this might seem reactionary, and a tad harsh, it could be the very thing England need to restart the Borthwick era, a Borthers 2.0 almost.
We’ve seen some shining lights pushing through though that could easily come and take their spots. Tom Roebuck was excellent against Japan, and did a decent enough job too against South Africa upon his arrival. Fin Smith and Asher Opoku-Fordjour also looked in good touch when deployed against the Brave Blossoms, and crucially had a much better impact on the game than the aforementioned Ford and Cole did in the previous outings.
The fringe players, and even the England A lads, will also be seething at their lack of selection. Trevor Davison, Ted Hill and Alex Lozowski have been super impressive in the Premiership and would warrant a call-up. The curious case of Ben Curry continues after he was inexplicably dropped after a standout cameo against New Zealand. Outside of this, Fraser Dingwall, Joe Heyes, Guy Pepper and even young Henry Pollock and Afolabi Fasogbon impressed on England A duty and could be a good shout to bring in, even as squad players.
England are blessed with some seriously talented players, but Borthwick needs to pick on form, not favourites (something he said he’d avoid).
What the hell is going on in defence?
The title says it, but you have to wonder what they do in training if their defence is that bad.
I’ve said it time and time again, the change in coach, and therefore systems, could be the key factor and by the time the Six Nations rolls around all the issues could vanish, but my word it was bad this autumn.
A blitz relies on players being SUPER connected in their press, with the winger and 13 getting high on the outside to then force play inside, but this month England found themselves caught out far too easily out wide.
The way they bolted out the line felt timid, which simply doesn’t suit a blitz as that’s when teams can get around it, and that was exactly what happened this November.
What’s even more confusing is Joe El-Abd doesn’t actually run a blitz for his current club side Oyonnax, so why is he running one for England?
Defence should be their biggest work-on building into the Six Nations, and a complete reset could be the answer to their issues in this area. What that looks like, I’m unsure, maybe a return to the more passive shallow defence England utilised in the past? Either way it could be something that drastic that changes things.
Coaching palaver over
The big narrative coming into the autumn was the instability in Borthwick’s coaching staff. Felix Jones and Aled Walters left a void in the background that is yet to be properly filled.
Yes, El-Abd has come in to lead the defence, but he’s had some teething issues since taking the reins, and Borthwick is still searching for his new head of performance to replace Walters. This is clearly a big problem for him, and he’s already been pretty open about how he thinks his side aren’t fit enough to be Test players, so this needs sorting ASAP.
But, when he does get his man, and El-Abd has the chance to get his system in place, things should be a lot smoother for the England squad. That turbulence from the summer will be a distant memory, and Borthwick will have peace once again.
On the whole, Borthwick will not want to remember much of this Autumn Nations Series, but it should serve as a checkpoint for his tenure as England boss to build upon in the future.
