Record England men’s caps holder Ben Youngs has hammered the performance of Steve Borthwick’s side in their Six Nations capitulation to Ireland at Twickenham.
The English came into the Round Three match in London insisting they were determined to make amends for the previous weekend’s nightmare effort in Scotland.
However, instead of getting the desired reaction following that 31-20 defeat at Murrayfield, Borthwick’s underperforming players doubled down on their inaction and wound up suffering an even greater defeat. A slow start did for England in Edinburgh as they fell 17-0 in arrears, but they went 22-0 down against Ireland at Allianz Stadium before finally firing a shot on the stroke of the first-half interval.
Fraser Dingwall’s try, though, wasn’t the start of a rousing comeback as Ireland moved the score on to 42-14 before Sam Underhill’s consolation try left the final result reading a double-score 42-21.
Youngs, who stepped away from Test rugby following Rugby World Cup 2023, was left scathing by the hammering inflicted by the Irish and he didn’t hold back when reflecting on the match in the latest edition of For The Love Of Rugby, the show he co-hosts with Dan Cole, his former England and Leicester colleague.
“England schooled”
Having begun the Six Nations hopeful that England could win a first Six Nations title since 2020 when he was involved at scrum-half, Youngs was crestfallen that their latest campaign is now in disarray with trips to Italy and France remaining following the loss of two of their three matches so far.
“Two weeks in a row, big players didn’t deliver,” he began. “The game plan has been exposed. Are England unravelling? The breakdown, masterclass from Ireland. England schooled two weeks in a row in that department. Defence, we’re falling off tackles. We look all over the place in systems. Lineout fell to bits. Players are getting hooked.
“Big players for Ireland, Lions players, there have been question marks about them. They gave us, including ourselves, the two fingers up because they absolutely delivered. A masterclass. Andy Farrell was into everything. You could see the passion in the stands. They fought for everything. They dominated England. They reminded everyone they ain’t an ageing team, they ain’t going anywhere and England have so many questions. So many questions.
“When you look at the performances we have had, if you look at the run of games and results, I didn’t see this coming the last two weeks and we have been absolutely outclassed.
“We have got players who are falling off tackles, we have got players that are missing touch, we have got players that are doing uncharacteristic things. We looked shellshocked, we looked clueless at times, dare I say it, and some of it you have to credit Ireland and some of it you have to look at England and go, ‘Boys, what is going on?’
“But I’ll tell you one thing, no one will be more disappointed than that changing room, than that group of players after that game, sat in there reflecting on that performance. We have been humbled by Scotland away and we have been absolutely dismantled by Ireland at home.
“You had Irish fans cheering when England made touch, you had them cheering when they won a lineout. Like, they were honestly loving life. I think at one point they were even singing ‘Swing low, sweet chariot’, that’s how much they had an absolute ball at Twickenham. They were revelling in England just falling apart in certain areas and what were England fans doing, they’re running for the exit with 10 to go.”
Youngs admitted the defeat generated the sort of feeling that he and Cole would have experienced at times over the course of their distinguished Test-level careers – and there could be no escaping it, especially the current England team’s leadership group.
“There is not a single England player who thinks they played well,” he continued. “There is not a single player who hasn’t woken up feeling absolutely awful about the performance. There isn’t a single player who is more critical and takes more responsibility than they do.
“Coley and I have been there. We know exactly that feeling and it is bloody awful. The care that you have and the pride that you have from wearing that jersey is huge and you understand the responsibility of that and therefore you are fully aware that what was put on the field was not good enough. It was not acceptable in certain areas of that performance and the mood will be s***.”
Youngs went on to say that the blame game will start with the likes of vice-captain Ellis Genge and other senior players who performed poorly. “You want a performance from England. On the back of going up to Murrayfield and getting well beaten, to then rolling into a home game, Ireland coming to town, knowing that you need a performance and putting that out there, when you do that the wolves feel like they are coming in.
“It’s awful, it’s absolutely awful and Gengey and those guys, they are not afraid, what they have said there (in public) they will be saying to the team, they will be stood in front of the group explaining that it’s not acceptable and putting it on people. And putting it on themselves as well.
“First and foremost, the leaders will look at themselves. Gengey, Maro (Itoje), Jamie George, (Luke) Cowan-Dickie, Fordy (George Ford), all those guys will be going it starts with them because rule No.1 in being a leader is you have to perform yourself and the leaders did not perform. The guys who have to perform and set the tone through actions did not deliver.
“You look at Ireland, where do I start? (Jamison) Gibson-Park, sensational. Tadhg Beirne, flip, what a player! Joe McCarthy had been quiet, but my gosh, did he deliver. James Ryan just hitting things. Caelan Doris, Josh van der Flier. Those players delivered. The Irish leadership players delivered through actions first and that is rule No.1 of leadership: Perform yourself. Before you hold anyone else accountable, you have to deliver on your bits, and England did not.”
Cole added: “I’m England’s biggest defender but I’ve had a tough weekend. I’ve watched the game multiple times now, I’ve been looking for some hope, I’ve been looking for attack defence, anything going and it’s been tough.
“Ultimately, Ireland brought a physicality and intensity that England couldn’t match. They took their chances when they had opportunities to score points, England didn’t. England’s lineout struggled, England’s breakdown was second best in attack and defence.
“The air, Ireland won it. The reaction, Ireland won it. Defensively, England fell off a lot of tackles, stuff we haven’t seen from them before. George Ford missing touch twice. It was a whole lot of errors but credit to Ireland. Part of me thinks did England play badly or did Ireland play really well and make England play badly.”