Sleep will not have come easily to England as they flew home. Never mind the business class seating. Never mind the fatigue of an endless winter spent playing rugby. Never mind the prospect of a few weeks off the clock and some well-deserved R and R. The measure of where Steve Borthwick’s team now find themselves is that there will be two little rocks nestled under their pillows that will keep them from a gentle slumber. Two test defeats, two pointed reminders that no matter what merit there has been in their performances across the last month – and there has been much to admire – they still did not get across the line in New Zealand to record a victory. Ireland managed it two years ago. England did not. And the Irish even managed to roll back the stone from the seeming dead in Durban. There is to be no consolation for England in a pat on the back. It’s a 6.5/10 – could do better. In fact, by their own criteria, must do better.
The best teams, the very best teams, those who aspire to champion status, those who graft for every last blade of grass, those who believe whole-heartedly in the ready-reckoner that is the full-time scoreboard, are never satisfied with a loss. Never.
Happily for Red Rose supporters, that does look to be England’s mindset. They know that they had it within themselves on the day to win either of those games in Dunedin and Auckland. That is not to say that they deserved to win those tests over and above the All Blacks. Rather that they created enough pressure as well as opportunity to have done so. That is all. New Zealand, rash, ragged and flaky at times, still managed to master the moments that mattered.
Luckily for all of us, there is a third test in store for England to show that they have the wherewithal to make it happen. England against New Zealand at Twickenham in November. The Sequel. Bring It On – it will be a fascinating indicator to show if England’s glass half full appraisal from this trip is merited. They showed grit and togetherness and, yes, cleverness in creating scores, but still the debit column has too many entries for lasting comfort.
England’s scrum needs tending to. Some of those young buck props need fast-tracking to maturity. No scrum, no win. In a nutshell England were up against it given their frailties there. Their protection of the ball at the breakdown also needs a ring of steel erected. Once again, the black shirts were able to counter-ruck effectively. England’s attack needs further honing. One recurring irritant is that England slither-kick the ball away too often. When you find yourself shouting at the TV screen you know too things – firstly, you’re getting old but, more importantly, someone has made a Horlicks of something.
The big uptick is that there is now a clear sense of identity about this team. They are no longer in a transitional state, unsure of quite what direction they are headed.
Of course, the dink in behind is a strategy to keep an opposition defence honest. But patience and ball-in-hand will also bring its reward. For whetever reason, England did not trust themselves. England’s cross-field kicking is on a par with that of the Jonny Wilkinson-to-Ben Cohen days. The rest of their kicking game, short or long, needs to come up to that level. At least there were no issues from the pots at goal.
These details and more will occupy Borthwick’s mind for many a summer’s day. You can’t imagine the England head coach relaxing with a cheap thriller and a cold one. Borthwick doesn’t really do down time. Under his tutelage, England can fix the fault lines that did for them.
The big uptick is that there is now a clear sense of identity about this team. They are no longer in a transitional state, unsure of quite what direction they are headed. They have shed the dour, risk-free, kick-and-groan persona that chiselled results during the 2023 World Cup but did little to either win hearts and minds or even offer hope for the future. Those barren days are but a distant memory.
England do lack the experience, as well as the boundless class, of a Beauden Barrett on the bench, one of the key differences between the teams, but they have gained incrementally in match-day wisdom. They simply need more of it if they are to further haul themselves up the rankings ladder. England’s bench was much the weaker with Barrett the stand-out exemplar of that. Kiwi replacement tighthead, Fletcher Newell, also managed to do a number on England.
England faded after an encouraging first half. They didn’t register a point following Marcus Smith’s penalty goal in the 49th minute. Tiredness? Yes, in part. But more fundamentally it was a lack of nous that caused the dip, an inability to manage the circumstances of the game accordingly. Borthwick’s substitution strategy fed into that. Of course he might want to give Fin Smith exposure to elite level rugby. So much for that theory. The only theory that matters is in the here and now. Smith for Smith wasn’t a deal-breaker but England lost their way as those replacements came on. They muddied the picture rather than added value, Ollie Sleightholme’s vivid cameo notwithstanding.
England’s killer touch needs locating and refining. There is no doubt that Manny Feyi-Waboso has what it takes. He has pace and strength and aptitude.
England’s tries were well-crafted from the cross-field boot of Marcus Smith but, the late, late drive for the line apart, which I thought was correctly called by referee, Nic Berry, they didn’t really light up the Red Zone. Of course England missed George Furbank in attack. The Saintsman might have added the cutting edge that Freddie Steward lacks, willing and able as the Leicester full-back was. He simply does not have the legs. Compare and contrast with Beauden Barrett from the rear.
England’s killer touch needs locating and refining. There is no doubt that Manny Feyi-Waboso has what it takes. He has pace and strength and aptitude. His progress over the last six months alone, the desire to come off his wing and his eye for the right place entry, has been a marked add-on. England have plenty of strike power options in their ranks.
The centre partnership was solid and reliable without ever being truly fancy and devastating. Again, it’s a tough area in which to operate, particularly in defence where Henry Slade did a manful job in marshalling the blitz defence. The longer they are all together, the better that will become.
England finish their season in much more upbeat spirits than they were when they lost to Scotland at Murrayfield in February.
It’s easy – and correct, to be fair – to say that this is not a vintage All Black side. Not yet. And maybe nor for a while to come, Again, that November encounter at Twickenham will be a yardstick in all sorts of ways. As impressive as their scrum was, their lineout was the exact opposite – a jittery, unproductive mess. Yet they still managed to adapt and find the wit and mana to overcome England’s half-time advantage as well as their own deficiencies.
England finish their season in much more upbeat spirits than they were when they lost to Scotland at Murrayfield in February. Borthwick labelled that defeat ‘a painful experience.’ The same could be said of the losses at the Forsyth Barr Stadium and Eden Park. Same words, but with a wholly different tone and meaning to them. England are in a much better place.
England have found an identity in the sense that they've become a much more dogged team and the defensive system has started to click. They've found a formula which is going to make them very hard to beat but I still don't think they know how they want to attack, it's still very muddled.
good article! two points though:
“The rest of their kicking game, short or long, needs to come up to that level”
I thought England’s long kicking game was pretty good?
“The Saintsman might have added the cutting edge that Freddie Steward lacks, willing and able as the Leicester full-back was. He simply does not have the legs”
Steward had a really poor game, because he didn’t excel under the high ball. If he had taken a couple of box kicks without registering any knock ons then he would have more than made up for not being Furbank. People need to really expand their understanding of what a fullback needs to do.