Four England talking points after latest damaging Six Nations loss

Another year, another false England start under Steve Borthwick. It’s the same old script from his team, plenty of promise that goes up in a puff of smoke when the pressure becomes its most unbearable. Saturday in Dublin was no different. Here are the RugbyPass talking points from the latest English mishap:

Meaningless chit-chat
Steve Borthwick remains a tough post-game listen. The opening round match at Aviva Stadium was the 24th time in the head coach’s 29-match tenure that this writer was there in person to hear his musings and his first answer highlighted the continuing limit of his ambitions.

“I am very proud of how the players, one, attacked the game in the first half and, two, in the final quarter the way they came back and ultimately scored a couple of tries to get us the bonus point here.” Is that what England are about these days in the Six Nations, grabbing clock-in-the-red losing bonus points?

Jonah Lomu destroys England at 1995 RWC | RPTV

Jonah Lomu destroys England at 1995 RWC | RPTV

Jonah Lomu scores four unbelievable tries against England at the 1995 Rugby World Cup. You can watch a full replay of the match on the new RugbyPass app.

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Their language should be winning titles, not meaningless chit-chat. You just can’t imagine any English rugby fan worth his salt ‘celebrating’ the point that Tommy Freeman’s garbage time try secured. Truth be told, England had been stuffed, soundly beaten 10-27 before their two late, late consolations materialised.

A run of two meagre wins in nine matches, both successes coming versus the in-decline Japan, make it hard to keep buying into Borthwick’s echo chamber platitudes about alleged progress, improvements and all the rest.

This a floundering coach who continues to look out of his depth as a Test-level head boss. Twickenham defeats in the coming weeks against France and Scotland and that will surely be that for his joyless reign. His position will be untenable.

Dub ‘bomb’ squad
England’s attempt to grow a ‘bomb’ squad element to their game with the selection of six sub forwards continued to be a saga of self-inflicted wounds. In Ireland, Chandler Cunningham-South was the biggest culprit just minutes after his introduction.

A more disciplined run to close down Hugo Keenan would have seen England contest a breakdown a decent distance inside Irish territory with the score remaining at 10-13.

Instead, his unnecessary, mistimed collision brought the pressure-relieving penalty that was transformed a minute or so later into the try for Tadhg Beirne that irrevocably swung the result in Ireland’s favour.

None of the English bench impressed when the game was in the balance… and it isn’t the first time this has recently happened.

For instance, while Theo Dan did keep the lineout ticking along, away from the throw he again played like he is running in quicksand.

His fortunes since becoming one of the 17 enhanced elite contracted RFU players last October have been dire, just two sub appearances in five Test matches.

When he first emerged on the Test scene, he beat players for fun and chalked up generous yardage. That evasiveness is now elusive, unlike his opposite number Dan Sheehan, who was gleefully running in a try on his return from serious injury.

For those throwing the mud, the truth is @cadan_murley scored a try, assisted another & made a try saving tackle, alongside other positive additions to Englands performance. He made a couple of mistakes, who doesn’t on their debut!! But overall, he should be proud, I hope he is

— Will Carling (@willcarling) February 1, 2025

Don’t scapegoat Murley
The debut-making Caden Murley came in for much criticism post-game, with rabbit caught in headlights amongst the withering descriptions. Thing is, it wasn’t down his wing that England lost this match.

Yes, he was concerningly bottled up twice by the Irish at his team’s goal line in the second half, but he shouldn’t be the fall guy for the defeat. After all, he scored the opening try and gave the assist for England’s second. That’s credit in the bank.

Instead, missed tackles elsewhere hurt far worse. Take the starting English eight, nine, 10, 12 combination. Between them, Ben Earl, Alex Mitchell, Marcus Smith and Henry Slade 16 missed tackles – far too many for a defensive performance that was “improved”, according to Borthwick.

Not that the Irish were polished; their eight, nine, 10, 12 quartet missed 11 tackles. It was just that the English misses were costlier, further evidence that their collective defending under rookie assistant Joe El-Abd has a long way to go before becoming Test-level acceptable.

In attack and defence ??No mercy ??#GuinnessM6N pic.twitter.com/gFkrlqSjZg

— Guinness Men's Six Nations (@SixNationsRugby) February 1, 2025

Not all doom and gloom
It would be unfair on England if this RugbyPass review was completely doom and gloom. After all they were deserving 10-5 interval leaders before they were gassed.

Nothing gladdened the heart more than seeing Tom Curry survive and thrive. Along with twin brother Ben, they were a nuisance at the breakdown in slowing down the Irish attack.

Also worthy of kudos was how Ollie Lawrence fared. Four years ago, he was sold a pup in his first England start and totally starved of the ball against Scotland in London.

He was then only a bench player at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, but his game has now taken multiple steps forward, and he very much looks the part as an international midfielder.

His tackling was on the money, and he also exhibited the invaluable knack of beating defenders on the carry, including the gallop that was the catalyst for England’s first try.