Four issues England must address before facing the All Blacks again

In a contest as close as England’s with the All Blacks on Saturday, there is no need for Steve Borthwick to throw out the playbook following a 16-15 defeat. 

There were many positives that England’s head coach can take into their second Test at Eden Park on Saturday. With that said, there were some red flags.

England captain Jamie George vowed after the match “We’ll do a lot of honest work this week and make sure we go to Eden Park fully prepared. We’ll learn and we’ll grow and we’ll get better.”

Steve Borthwick impressed by young England side in tight All Blacks loss | Steinlager Series

Steve Borthwick impressed by young England side in tight All Blacks loss | Steinlager Series

England’s attacking transformation between their loss to Scotland and win over Ireland in the Six Nations this year proves how quickly a team can smooth out any concerns, and Borthwick will be hoping for a similar level of growth this week in some areas.

Some things can be fixed in a matter of a couple of sessions, while some may be slightly more deep-rooted. Here are four:

Goal kicking
Almost every kicker has an off-day with the boot from time to time, but when your predecessor was the seemingly metronomic Owen Farrell, you are likely to be judged by the standards set by Test rugby’s second-highest point scorer.

That’s the problem that Marcus Smith faces, as does George Ford and Fin Smith. No matter how well he played against the All Blacks, taking the ball to the line in a way the soon-to-be-Racing 92 flyhalf cannot, the performance of most No.10s will ultimately come down to the brass tacks of how well they kicked.

A record of two from five is not up to scratch at Test rugby, and worse still, the manner of the misses is all the more alarming. While Smith’s missed conversion for Immanuel Feyi-Waboso’s try was forgivable, his penalty misses in the opening minutes of the first and second half were less so. In a game that was decided by a solitary point, the importance of those wayward kicks is magnified.

The positive for England and the Harlequin is that this issue could simply have been a bad day at the office. After all, Handre Pollard was not much better from the tee against Ireland later that day, but Rassie Erasmus nor the Springbok will be particularly phased.

Smith will no doubt be assiduously labouring away on the training paddock to make sure that display was just a minor blip, but if there are early signs of creaking again, Borthwick may have to act swiftly.

Bench boost
A feature of Borthwick’s tenure as England boss so far is that he likes to make early substitutions in the second half, chiefly in the pack. Not once during the Six Nations did the starting front row see the 55th minute as a collective, for instance. Saturday was no different.

Now there is a welter of statistics that drive the decision-making process regarding substitutions that we outside the England camp are not exposed to, but surely the old-fashioned eye test still has some credence.

Chandler Cunningham-South in no way looked like a player that needed to be taken off on Saturday. He began his second half by smashing into Stephen Perofeta before carving his way through the All Blacks’ defence in the build-up to Feyi-Waboso’s try. That followed a first half where he had a hand in Maro Itoje’s try. His match came to an end after only 50 minutes, however.

There was a tactical justification for removing the flanker, but it did not pay off, nor did any other changes in truth. In contrast, the bulk of Scott Robertson’s alterations seemed to boost his side, which helps explain why the hosts were able to control the final ten minutes of the match.

There is always an element of risk to making changes as, even if a team is struggling, the devil you know is sometimes better than the devil you don’t. While every coach dreams of their bench making the kind of impact South Africa’s Bomb Squad did against Ireland, on this occasion England’s failed to provide a spark.

This is something that can theoretically be remedied in a week, but may come with time and experience for Borthwick.

Chandler Cunningham-South is a force of nature 🌪️#NZLvENG pic.twitter.com/gE9hKJEjmw

— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) July 8, 2024

Support
Neither England nor the All Blacks were particularly efficient at keeping hold of the ball for long stretches. While both sides found ways to cough up possession in a variety of ways, a reliable source of turnovers for the All Blacks came from targeting isolated English runners.

Scott Barrett and co were able to sniff out any instance where an Englishman was taking the ball into contact without a cavalry ruck-hitters to secure possession, and they duly punished them.

Tom Curry was therefore brought on to provide a touch more dynamism to the pack at the expense of the high-flying Cunningham-South. The ‘Kamikazee Kids’ duo with Sam Underhill had proven to be fruitful in the past against the All Blacks, and Borthwick was hoping for something similar.

Bizarrely, this move worked out too well as Curry conceded a penalty within minutes of coming on for diving straight over at a ruck after latching onto George Martin as the Leicester Tigers lock took the ball into contact.

Borthwick clearly identified this issue in-match, and while he was not wholly successful in finding a solution, he has all week to do so now.

The obvious answer is a change in personnel, but, as seen in Dunedin, that will come at a price in other departments of the game, as shown with Cunningham-South’s departure. But England’s starting set of forwards were not exactly lacking in speed, so it may well be a case of sticking with what they have (albeit with an enforced change) and tightening up any loose bolts heading to Auckland.

Scrum time
The phrase ‘no scrum, no win’ exists for a reason. England have had worse days at the scrum in recent memory, but this was still not a great day for England’s forwards in that department.

Borthwick’s front row did enjoy some success, but the All Blacks got the upper hand in the final quarter, which contributed to them being able to close the game out.

The visitors were not helped by losing all 95 caps-worth of experience in Joe Marler in the opening stages, with the uncapped Fin Baxter being thrown in at the deep end. Things will not get much better with Marler now ruled out of the second Test.

George highlighted this as an area to work on after the match, and though tough, it seems do-able for Borthwick and his coaching team. After all, this was not a demolition job by the All Blacks.

England tighthead Kyle Sinckler was keen to stress how such issues can be resolved in the space of a week.

“The scrum, they will be disappointed with the outcome,” Sinckler said as a pundit for Sky Sports. “But when it comes to the scrum, it’s just tiny little adjustments and they can fix that in a week and obviously, working with Tom Harrison, they’ve got massive experience in that front row so I believe they can fix that in a week.”