Will Greenwood: England in a ‘dangerous place’ as Steve Borthwick fails to ‘live up to his words’
England head coach Steve Borthwick and former player Will Greenwood.
Will Greenwood claims that England’s actions have not backed up Steve Borthwick’s words after their narrow Six Nations victory over Scotland.
The Red Rose head coach insists that he wants the players to express themselves and play an attacking brand of rugby.
Borthwick himself is renowned as a conservative coach, one that places an emphasis on set-piece and a strong kicking game, but the 45-year-old is adamant that he wants his talented backline to spread the ball.
Scotland struggles
That was certainly not in evidence in the third round of the Six Nations, however, as they lost the try count three to one to the Scots, and even that score could have been disallowed on another day.
Although England have now won two matches in succession – against France and Scotland – and on paper have easier games with Italy and Wales to come, Greenwood has not been impressed.
“This isn’t about personnel on the field, this has to be about living up to the words that Steve is speaking about before the game – building our attacking game and then seeing it happen,” he told the Rugby Mates podcast.
“We’re at home, 82,000 people, we win a great lineout but, bang, box-kick straight away. Our first option tells Scotland everything they need to know about how England are going to play for the rest of the afternoon. Do something different.”
Greenwood was part of the England side that won the 2003 World Cup. They had a huge pack which contained several greats of the game but they also had a sparkling backline, one that included the 52-year-old.
“There’s a great phrase that we like to talk about which is ‘freedom within a framework’. Let me use Brian Ashton as an example, who was a magnificent backs coach. We were given the autonomy and the space and the ability to move ourselves,” he said.
“If a 10 wanted to stand at 12, if 12 wanted to stand at 15, according to where the skill sets were, and you then got, from one idea, five different options, according to how the defence set themselves up.
“This team at the moment feels like all framework and no freedom, and that’s a dangerous place to be as a rugby team.”
England mindset
Personnel changes will inevitably be discussed but Greenwood insists that it is all about mindset with this England outfit.
The former centre reckons the talent is there and the team selection is, by and large, correct, but that it does not matter if the game plan, coaching or environment is too restrictive.
“The personnel you can’t argue… It’s not necessarily about selection, it’s about the team removing shackles, letting rip,” Greenwood added.
“It’s that straightjacket that I feel the team are in. The problem now is that no matter what the coaches say, in the desperation to get results it feels like they’ve completely regressed and said: ‘winning is everything.’”
