Former England head coach Clive Woodward has waded into the post-mortem following last Saturday’s Twickenham humiliation for Steve Borthwick’s Six Nations team.
The Allianz Stadium hosts were hammered 42-21 by Andy Farrell’s 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 on February 14.
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.
However, England again endured another laboured start, going 22-0 down before eventually getting on the board just before the interval. That, though, wasn’t 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.
Punches
Woodward slammed the English mindset, 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.
Writing in his latest Sportsmail column, the 2003 Grand Slam-winning coach remained adamant that Borthwick had “done a good job since taking charge” and was “still the right man for the role as England head coach”.
However, that support didn’t deter him from landing several punches that will surely damage the English boss who has seen his team’s title hopes disappear over the course of two wretched performances following a 12-Test winning streak.
“England’s mindset is all wrong,” he claimed. “That 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 didn’t just beat a bunch of no-hopers.
“They downed a strong Argentina team without their best players last summer and in the autumn, were too good for an Australia side, who beat the Lions, and New Zealand, who remain packed with threats.
“It was right that Borthwick’s 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’s inexcusable to start matches as England have in their last two outings.”
Moving on to admire how Ireland showed England how good they were in exposing the mental and tactical weaknesses of Borthwick’s side, Woodward made a striking observation about the usefulness of Farrell’s assistants.
“One thing that I thought summed up the difference between the teams was the respective coaches… Alongside Farrell, he has two Irish icons in Johnny Sexton and Paul O’Connell and another fine coach in Simon Easterby who is the most experienced of that assistant trio.
“Farrell’s use of Sexton and O’Connell is very, very canny. They’re essentially the Jonny Wilkinson and Martin Johnson of English rugby. I’d love England to make use of their ex-professionals like Ireland did.”
Looking ahead to England’s next match, Woodward insisted George Furbank must start and Fin Smith must also be a strong contender for inclusion with Borthwick looking to pick up the pieces of another smashed Six Nations campaign.
“What he must do is use the pain he and his team are experiencing now as a force for good,” advised Woodward. “I would strongly advise Borthwick to make changes for Italy.
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“I was at Twickenham on Saturday and George Furbank came into the same hospitality box as me. I’d never met Furbank before, but he came over and said: ‘Thanks for picking me.’ I’ve been consistent in saying that Furbank has to be England’s full-back. He must be in the team at number 15 over Freddie Steward.
“That’s the first change I’d make for Italy. Fin Smith is also now a strong contender to come in at number 10 to start ahead of George Ford,” he reckoned, adding that: “England are not all of a sudden a bad side. But the truth is, in the past week, they have plumbed depths I didn’t think this team was possible of hitting.”