First it was the wailing about a series of narrow losses from July to November. Now it is the gnashing teeth over a couple of one-point wins in the Six Nations. It seems there is no happy medium, no oasis of calm reserved for the supporter of the English rugby team under Steve Borthwick. It is a state of constant anxiety, living on the edge of a knife until the final moments are spent and the dregs of the game are drained. Nobody leaves early to avoid the West London traffic anymore.
By the time you have finished watching any recent England game, you can be sure you will have deserved a pint or two of relief at the Old Cabbage Patch in London Road, or at the Sun Inn or the Prince’s Head in Richmond. Prior to their past two one-point home victories over France and Scotland, England had lost their previous seven, home and away, by an average margin of only 4.4 points per game. Supporters of the Red Rose will be hoping for a little more clarity and a lot less stress in the remaining fixtures against Italy and Wales.
Reading between the lines, you could be forgiven for interpreting the post-match comments of Scotland supremo Gregor Townsend as those of a man who had just come out on the right end of the result:
“We scored three tries to one, so to get that possession and [that] amount of yards I’m sure would have meant a lot in the game…
“It was a really good training week. We felt confident as a coaching group we were going to get a very good performance out of the players today. And it probably surpasses, performance-wise, what we have done here [for] the last two or three years.
“Normally, when you have that amount of pressure and opportunities to score points, you get more on the board… Three tries to one and the way we came back to potentially win the game: obviously with a try, but even at the end [with a conversion].
“We were very close to getting an historic win and whether it was a kick or another decision at the end of the game, we’d be talking about a brilliant win.”
A summary like that will only increase the confusion of England fans who are wondering whether the scoreboard is truly painting an accurate picture of what they saw unfolding before their eyes in real time. At present it is more like one of those opaque multiverses from a Marvel movie, with several different outcomes of a single event developing simultaneously.
Townsend’s view of proceedings was undoubtedly supported by the raw stats. Scotland enjoyed 58% of territory and possession, they set double the number of rucks, and carried the ball on twice as many occasions for twice as many metres as the home side. They won the line-break battle 9-2 and the try-scoring by three to one. The only area they did not dominate was set-piece, where England won 100% of their own ball from scrum and lineout while winning the penalty count at scrum-time 3-0.
The underlying reality is the men in white are currently flying by the seat of their pants, and investing in a defence which is strong in some areas, but distinctly spotty in others. As Townsend also pointed out in his post-game summary: “I thought England defended really well in their 22. They kept their discipline. Often when you get in the 22, you manage to get a penalty from offside, we didn’t get that. And I thought they were really strong close to the ruck. So, credit goes to them.”
‘In their 22’, ‘Close to the ruck’. These are two spaces where England defence can look impressive. We could add ‘After five phases’ to the list. And make no mistake, Borthwick’s charges have a lot of defending to do. They kick a huge portion of their ball away – an average of 40, yes 40 times per game after three rounds of the Six Nations. That is seven more per game than the next team [the luckless Azzurri], nine more than table-toppers Ireland, and 16 more than their opponents from north of the border on Saturday.
Scrum-half Alex Mitchell leads all kickers in the tournament with 45 punts over three matches, at an average of 17.5 kicks per 80 minutes. Townsend’s Scotland were well-prepared for the box-kick bombardment. Of eight kicks by the Saints 9, one went straight into touch from outside the 22, another was returned for a tackle-bust and two more for clean breaks, one of which went for a try. On the other side of the ledger, England only managed one Tommy Freeman reclaim.
The volume of questions about how the aerial barrage gels with the selection of two attack-minded Smiths at 10 and 15, and how the current game plan represents the best of current Premiership trends, just grew a whole lot louder.
The kicking has a direct impact on Joe El-Abd’s defence. England have conceded more tries from turnovers than any other team [five out of 10] and eight of them have been scored within four phases or fewer. Some of the strengths in El-Abd’s defensive pattern when play is condensed in the England 22 and there is an extra body or two on the defensive line, such as the desire to bring consistent pressure on the opposition first receiver, become weaknesses in the middle of the field.
Scotland announced their intention to attack from kick return as early as the third minute.
This was the picture after full-back Blair Kinghorn brought back Scotland’s second kick return into midfield. There is already a promising attacking situation out to the left, with four Scottish backs out to the left facing a mix of two English backs and two forwards. After a couple more phases moving in the opposite direction, Scotland had improved the scenario to the point where they knew they could make a kill.
The picture has now developed to four Scotland backs against one England forward and two backs, and when Ben Earl takes himself out of the play by rushing up on Finn Russell at first receiver, that becomes four-on-two. It is the kind of scenario the Scottish outside backs are far too good to miss, especially with England’s backfield duo of Marcus Smith and Henry Slade defending so deep. That picture was repeated throughout the first half, especially down England’s right-hand side.
The greatest danger for the England defence designed by El-Abd usually occurs within the first three or four phases from a set-piece or change of possession, when the wide defence is at its most passive and it is so much harder to involve their ‘wild bunch’ of number 7s in the pattern. England conceded their second try direct from a first-phase lineout.
Whenever Scotland could make that second pass unmolested, England’s aggressive intent evaporated and the odds shifted massively in favour of the visitors. The last three defenders all begin backing off towards the corner flag and 7 Ben Earl is always a couple of steps short of being a factor in the cover.
If they are so evidently willing to give up easy metres in the initial phases, what exactly are England trying to accomplish on defence?
In the first clip, England surrender another line-break on a kick return down their right-hand side, and a few moments later they are jockeying hard to the opposite corner when Scotland make another easy second pass. As in the first half versus Ireland, England are gambling on allowing width to get their number sevens [here 21 Ben Curry and Earl] to the breakdown first, before their Scottish counterparts arrive.
A couple of minutes earlier, it was the Saracens man who had been in pole position to make the turnover.
‘Back off, back off, jump in’. The problems arise when England have not been able to keep all three sevens on the field at once. Against Ireland in Dublin, as soon as Chandler Cunningham-South and Tom Willis joined the action from the bench, a big hole appeared inside the first receiver rush. Versus Scotland at Twickenham, the ‘three sevens’ plans was disrupted by an injury to Tom Curry, and a very similar event occurred, and it almost cost them the game right at the death.
In both cases, England’s opponents pull the first receiver rush up before dumping the ball back inside to a big back steaming straight up the middle into the gap that has been created. Without the three open-side musketeers on the field together, the men in white cannot cover all the holes their defence presents to the opposition.
Borthwick’s England are in a quicksand of their own making. Without Felix Jones coaching the D they no longer commit fully to the rush, and defend passively against the second pass. That means they need to pick two or three forwards with number seven-type speed to cover the width of the field and plug all the gaps.
It entails sacrificing the big ball-carriers who could keep the ball in hand for longer periods of time and help make the most of the two Smiths on attack. There will be kicking, a whole lot more of it to come. Even against the two weakest sides in the championship, Italy and Wales, in the last two rounds of the Six Nations.
Until there is a fix on defence, Borthwick can continue to pick the cream of English rugby – but without seeing the best of any of them except in fits and starts. England supporters will continue to bite their nails down to the bone, trying to survive in that alternate universe where games are in the balance as the clock turns red, with all three results still possible long after the final whistle.
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Yep the All Blacks learnt to deal with it so I no longer care enough to complain about it LOL
No there are teams that try to abuse it (Scotland did seen to look like it was a ploy and actually they even got penalized for it) so I think it is a bad look for the game in that small respect. Right now they can make it difficult by ‘losing’ the play (the ball for a sec) by having someone a meter or two from the line but as soon as a defender even looks to be remotely baffled and taken by surprise, even if purely accidental, if their was an offside playing near him I think refs should be encouraged to blow it up, right now at least.
It’s like the diving in the Skelton incident, it’s a pox on the game that needs to be killed off. Runners can just do what leaugies do, you don’t have to change your tactics (the just aren’t going to work as well) or moves, and if D continues to get the upper hand officially allow it as a tactic.
No, they’ve just doubled down on how they play must win games. It would have been a far more convincing scoreline with Ford running the show, but Borthwick obviously still has a bob each way.
What an exciting finish, a bit bemused by how van der Merwe touched that last try down, but as a neutral can’t complain about the climax. A really good effort by Scotland considering having the handicap of Jordan playing 12.
The TMO was typically over officious, coming in well behind time for a couple of meaning penalties, though the headclash one at least overturned a poorly rewarding Scotland jackle. Having seen some comments about the refereeing I otherwise didn’t notice any problems.
No one can do that, nor offer a blanket defence. These are the same holes you’ve been highlighting since last July (when I highlighted them in the prev 6N) Nick.
Marcus Smith needs to be banned from using the mark.
Jordan seems like a natural 12 to me. Hard carrier, strong, good speed, passing, distribution. He's played there a fair bit for Glasgow.
Marcus is overusing the mark… but England seem determined to take all tempo out of the game and never counter so I don't expect it to stop.
5’ tall flyhalf at fullback not trusted to counterattack or receive any passes, only field high balls and mark them. 🤷♂️
As nearly all good team use the same methods it’s not as if it is giving someone an unfair advanatge in any case.
Hardly on the ‘must-do’ list!😂
He’s more of a coach that a journalist Arjay so he simply likes it, therefor defends it as being interesting tactics.
He’s got a good point imo, I’d like more facets like this to become legal. Not for the purest though!
He just did, can’t defend your own point? lol
edit, I could see and didn’t hear any complaining in the first try
Yeah. You got nothing. Bye.🤣
You’re an AI aren’t you, add to my spam, bye
Do you really mean to tell me, that as a rugby journalist, you have not in the past 12 months watched a single match, where there has been a single incident of a dummy runner, lazy runner or player in front of the ball impeding the defensive effort in any way shape or form ? does your editor know this.
You don’t need to, just cite a time in any game where your thesis makes sense! I can then go look…
Sorry unlike you I don’t have access to such clips, neither am I paid to acquire them, I’m now ignoring your windup.
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I’ve read many of the comments. Most make me wonder if national prejudices will ever be conquered by reason. It’s a pity that these people can type quicker than they can think
I can’t believe some have ever coached the game or been coached well.
Some comments seem sensible - whether I agree with them or not - but I gave up trying to sort the wheat from the chaff.
You think these commenters have coached the game?!? LOl what is that about?
Examples Theo?
Scottish dummy runners were blocking the defensive and stopping it drifting. The blocked players may not have been anywhere near the ball, but the rest of the line couldn’t drift to the touch without opening significant gaps. If you’re going to stop blocking to protect the catcher what about dummy runners blocking players. Any player in front of the ball should be making an active attempt to withdraw, anything else and they’re interfering with play and they’re doing that intentionally in most cases.
Yes it has to be made legal for this sort of carry on to be able to continue without the game looking silly (to people with a common sense approach judging this new game).
It will of course open up some other cool facets too.
If they are genuine options to receive a pass from a man in front of them, why should they withdraw any further?
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