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'Worst since 2015': England compared to Lancaster era after 'being battered' by Boks
By Sam Smith
England limped to the end of their Autumn internationals with just one win from four tests as a 14-man South Africa coasted to a 27-13 win at Twickenham, heaping pressure on head coach Eddie Jones.
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After a disastrous Six Nations in 2021 and a third-place finish in 2022, questions over Jones’ rebuild of his 2019 World Cup final side persist.
After losing to Argentina to start the Autumn campaign, Jones’ men rebounded to beat Japan, finished fast to draw with New Zealand before falling heavily to South Africa for a disappointing November.
A ten minute flurry against a 14-man All Blacks side last weekend saved what could have been a similar scoreline, coming back from 25-6 to tie the test. Outside of that, it has been a less than impressive showing from England.
The manner of the 27-13 defeat to the Springboks has English rugby fans concerned, with fans saying they are ‘devoid of ideas’ and will ‘make up the numbers’ at next year’s World Cup.
They were outclassed in ‘every area of the game’ and struggled to put points together when the Springboks went down to 14 men for the final twenty minutes, repelled multiple times from the maul and turning the ball over on the goal line.
The loss was described as the ‘worst since 2015′ when Stuart Lancaster lead the side to a pool stage exit at their home World Cup, leading to a clean out and the initial beginning of Jones’ era.
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England going through backroom staff at a rate shows. No consistency in attack for nigh on two years now. Look devoid of ideas. Lawes key to Eng but he wouldn’t have made a difference here either but carrying a few players in that pack. #ENGvRSA
— Tom Coleman (@LeinsterRoyalty) November 26, 2022
Note to Eddie: we have some of the best back rowers in the world. Stop picking locks to play flanker. Thanks. #ENGvRSA
— Iain Munro (@iamthemunro) November 26, 2022
@EnglandRugby have a long way to go. On current form they’re making up the numbers for #RWC2023. *Might* make knockout stages. @Springboks could have won that with 14 from the start and barely broke sweat. No #England player played well. Some played OK. #ENGvRSA
— Claudicant (@claudicant) November 26, 2022
England's attack is bad, their defence is bad, their set piece is bad.
RSA down to 14 men for last 20 mins and look by far the better team. (I know we scored)
England look like the team from the 90s, could be competitive against NH sides then embarrassed by SH teams. #ENGvRSA— JimBod (@bodjimbo) November 26, 2022
1 out of 4 isn’t bad right? RIGHT?! 😫 #ENGvRSA
— Gemma Dorling (@Gemma_Dorling) November 26, 2022
Jones has taken England as far as he can. We are now back peddling and falling behind the top tier of international sides. Time for a change or things will only get worse….#ENGvRSA
— Chris S (@LondonChrisQPR) November 26, 2022
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england have played 10 good minutes in the last 160.
in reality they've have had shockers against argentina, all blacks and now south africa.
absolutely abysmal all round. #ENGvRSA https://t.co/Nc9hGqW5ck
— Gully Burrows (@gully_burrows) November 26, 2022
South Africa bullied, brutalised, and outclassed a very poor England team and deserved to win
England deserved to lose
Something needs to change#ENGvRSA
— David Beckett (@iamdavidbeckett) November 26, 2022
Well if Eddie Jones refuses to pick the best players in England, ultimately England rugby suffer the consequences. #ENGvRSA
— WB (@waynebeukes7) November 26, 2022
An #ENG team booed at HQ … really dire game. Terrible series. A team going absolutely nowhere and which has been going nowhere for last couple of years notwithstanding the Australia tour. #ENGvRSA
— Michael Newbury (@MichaelNewbury) November 26, 2022
Jones out.
Worst performance I've seen England put on the park since 2015. Perhaps ever. No positives to take away. Not one.
#ENGvRSA— Gavin Outteridge 🇺🇦 🇬🇧 (@gjoutteridge) November 26, 2022
England have been battered not just in performance but physicality as well! Yes SA are a world class team but there's no plan, no discipline and no options going forward! Have been a big fan of Jones in his reign but think it's time for a change.. #ENGvRSA
— John (@JohnHildred2) November 26, 2022
Despite morale falling to extremely low levels, head coach Eddie Jones is still optimistic improvements are being made by his side who are ‘building a good base’ for a World Cup run.
“On results, we are not happy but I feel like we are building a really good base to have a really good go at the World Cup, a really good base,” he said.
“A number of young players got some great experience today. They will come back better players from that and we have got other players coming back to form, some of our more senior players and we are not far away.”
Thanks Springboks for not following the Rugby Championship's script of only playing for 70 minutes and then let the English back in with a draw, so the English won't sack Eddie Jones.
The only positive is if Eddie Jones gets sacked, NZR will then finally show courage and sack incompe ... incumbent ABs coach.
Be warned. We will not give up our cup so easy 2023, this Bok team is primed to hit some serious form next year. 💪 give Ben Smith another 4 years to moan about how bad we are.