Kiwi broadcaster won’t write England off before World Cup

England fell to another disastrous defeat under coach Steve Borthwick at Twickenham on Saturday afternoon, but a New Zealand broadcaster isn’t ready to “write them off” before the World Cup.

Following the departure of former coach Eddie Jones, England started their new dawn under Steve Borthwick with a disastrous run of five losses from six starts.

While the English were able to turn their fortunes around with a hard-fought 19-17 win over Wales earlier this month, their last two Test matches haven’t gone to plan.

England were beaten, badly, by World No. 1 Ireland at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin earlier this month. But, as we now know, the worst was yet to come.

Returning home to face Fiji in their final warm-up Test before the Rugby World Cup, England raced out to an early lead after a try to wing Jonny May inside the opening 10 minutes.

But the Flying Fijians came alive after the break, and scored three tries to England’s two during the second term. Fiji ended up beating England for the first time 30-22 on Saturday.

Many England fans are both concerned and low onconfidence ahead of the Rugby World Cup. The results just aren’t there, and haven’t been for quite some time.

Points Flow Chart

Fiji win +8

Time in lead

37

Mins in lead

38

46%

% Of Game In Lead

48%

61%

Possession Last 10 min

39%

0

Points Last 10 min

7

But Kiwi scribe and broadcaster James McOnie argued that England has “a lot of world-class players” within their ranks.

“You write them off at our peril really,” McOnie said on Weekend Sport With Jason Pine.

“They’ve still got a lot of world-class players: Courtney Lawes, Maro Itoje, (Owen) Farrell comes back into the mix, (Manu) Tuilagi is incredible.

“I actually think Marcus Smith, the reserve, reserve first-five, is the player they should build the team around but (Steve) Borthwick risk-averse and he’s gone full conservative.

“A lot of English fans are saying this is the house that Eddie Jones built, he created this mess, and look where we are.”

Coach Borthwick remains “confident” that England have the personnel they need to succeed, but supporters aren’t as optimistic.

Former England playmaker Andy Goode tweeted ‘#Borthwickout’ after the eight-point defeat, and that post had more than 1,300 likes, almost 170 reposts and 253 comments at the time of writing.