Former England head coach Clive Woodward has waded into the post-mortem following last Saturday\u2019s Twickenham humiliation for Steve Borthwick\u2019s Six Nations team.<\/p>\n
The Allianz Stadium hosts were hammered 42-21<\/a> by Andy Farrell\u2019s Ireland and it has left Woodward, the 2003 Rugby World Cup-winning coach, doubling down on the mindset concerns initially voiced in the aftermath of the Round Two battering at Scotland<\/a> on February 14.<\/p>\n A hopeful home crowd turned up in London expecting to see Borthwick and his charges rebound from the 31-20 Murrayfield crash caused by the dreadful slow start that left them 17-0 in arrears early in that match.<\/p>\n However, England again endured another laboured start, going 22-0 down before eventually getting on the board just before the interval. That, though, wasn\u2019t a sign for a restorative comeback as they instead conceded the bonus point try to the Irish shortly into a second half that was bossed by the visitors.<\/p>\n Punches<\/p>\n Woodward slammed the English mindset<\/a>, before highlighting what he felt summed up the difference between the rival Borthwick\/Farrell camps. He also tackled the headline selection changes he wants to see England make for their Round Four match away to Italy on March 7.<\/p>\n Writing in his latest Sportsmail<\/a> column, the 2003 Grand Slam-winning coach remained adamant that Borthwick had \u201cdone a good job since taking charge\u201d and was \u201cstill the right man for the role as England head coach\u201d.<\/p>\n However, that support didn\u2019t deter him from landing several punches that will surely damage the English boss who has seen his team\u2019s title hopes disappear over the course of two wretched performances following a 12-Test winning streak.<\/p>\n \u201cEngland\u2019s mindset is all wrong,\u201d he claimed. \u201cThat much is clear from their poor starts. They do not play quickly enough to trouble the best teams in world rugby. In their 12-match winning streak, England<\/a> didn\u2019t just beat a bunch of no-hopers.<\/p>\n Six Nations: Five things we learnt from round three as Ireland \u2018expose\u2019 England flaws and who the fallow week favours most<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThey downed a strong Argentina team without their best players\u00a0last summer and in the autumn, were too good for an Australia side, who beat the Lions, and New Zealand, who remain packed with threats.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was right that Borthwick\u2019s team got praise for that streak. Was it too much praise? Perhaps. But there can be no doubt that the past two weeks have shown England are nowhere near as good a team as perhaps they and we as followers of the team all thought they were. I include myself in that. It\u2019s inexcusable to start matches as England have in their last two outings.\u201d<\/p>\n Moving on to admire how Ireland showed England how good they were in exposing the mental and tactical weaknesses of Borthwick\u2019s side, Woodward made a striking observation about the usefulness of Farrell\u2019s assistants.<\/p>\n \u201cOne thing that I thought summed up the difference between the teams was the respective coaches\u2026 Alongside Farrell, he has two Irish icons in Johnny Sexton and Paul O\u2019Connell and another\u00a0fine coach in Simon Easterby who is the most experienced of that assistant trio.<\/p>\n Six Nations Team of the Week: Ireland dominate as \u2018magnificent\u2019 McCloskey shares top gong while \u2018spiky\u2019 Welsh feature<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cFarrell\u2019s use of Sexton and O\u2019Connell is very, very canny. They\u2019re essentially the Jonny Wilkinson and Martin Johnson of English rugby. I\u2019d love England to make use of their ex-professionals like Ireland did.\u201d<\/p>\n Looking ahead to England\u2019s next match, Woodward insisted George Furbank must start and Fin Smith must also be a strong contender for inclusion with Borthwick<\/a> looking to pick up the pieces of another smashed Six Nations campaign.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat he must do is use the pain he and\u00a0his team are experiencing now as a force for good,\u201d advised Woodward. \u201cI would strongly advise Borthwick to make changes for Italy.<\/p>\n Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as\u00a0a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a>\u00a0for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n