Former BlitzBok star Vuyo Zangqa lands Russian role

England's main issue is defence and the system def needs a lot of work.

Another way to improve [indirectly] it would be to keep hold of the ball for longer and reduce the number of tackles that need to be made. As a guy who jumps at lineout and carries ball, Willis would help with that.

It might also mean kicking more contestables like Sarrries, which again tend to be harder for the opponent to counter successfully.

Suspect El-Abd will have a lot of input here, as both the defence coach and the only member of the coaching staff with a background in the back-row

England's main issue is defence. We both know this!

In this thread we were talking about how to improve England's defence.

I suggested that England are best defending over multiple phases, and struggle when dealing with counters.

You introduced the analogy of a snooker player being at his best when at the table for an extended period, which agreed with what I said.

You then immediately argued against your own analogy, and then shifted the discussion away from defence onto attack!

I think its reductive to claim I just want England to make more passes - I can explain why if you want, but I don't want to just begin last week's argument again. Last week though you did keep saying that England's main issue was defence, and that fixing that should be the priority - a point about which I completely agreed. I don't really understand why you now don't want to discuss that!

Should be an interesting 6N if Scotland get a bounce off their form.