Sam Vesty, the Northampton Saints head coach, launched a stinging critique of England’s style of play under Steve Borthwick.
England suffered their worst-ever Six Nations record after losing four matches. A Rugby Football Union review is set to be completed by the end of April, with chief executive Bill Sweeney already offering a caveated vote of confidence in head coach Borthwick after England suffered their first-ever defeat to Italy.
England received just as much criticism for the style of play until the final round loss against France, with Borthwick frequently referencing the “weight of the shirt” as inhibiting his players’ performances. Yet Vesty, who works with England internationals Tommy Freeman, Fin Smith, Alex Coles, Alex Mitchell, Henry Pollock and Fraser Dingwall at Saints, dismissed it as an excuse.
“It’s the same with all of the other countries,” Vesty told BBC Radio Northampton’s The Saints Show. “They all have weight of expectation. Scotland move the ball, Italy move the ball. All those teams, if I asked you what their identity was, you could pretty clearly say something, couldn’t you? I’m not sure you could say that with England at the moment.”
England did finish the Six Nations playing an attacking brand of rugby, scoring seven tries and coming within a late Thomas Ramos penalty of beating champions France. Yet Vesty, who was seconded as Eddie Jones’ attack coach on the 2017 tour of Argentina, said only limited value should be placed in England’s performance, questioning why they did not produce that type of attacking display earlier in the tournament.
“It’s the easiest time in the world to play, isn’t it?” Vesty said of a 48-46 loss in Paris. “Everyone’s written them off, [they] can’t win and yet we see a free rugby team. Why are we seeing a free rugby team when there’s nothing on the cards, when there’s nothing there to play for?
“Why aren’t we seeing a free rugby team when there is something on the cards? I think that is the ultimate test.”
Saints are not only top of the table ahead of Saturday’s match against Saracens at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium but are also widely regarded as the most entertaining side in Prem Rugby. Asked if England could play a similar style, Vesty said: “To a degree, yeah. It’s still 15 players in attack, 15 players in defence. Why wouldn’t it be?”
Vesty was also dismissive of the explanation that England will always struggle for cohesion when they are selecting players from 10 different clubs. “France have even more teams and they have to pick across that and it you would say they would have a very strong identity,” he said. “You know what it looks like and they do it very well. [That league system] has its harder elements.
“We have 10 very good rugby clubs to pick from. Scotland don’t, Italy don’t, Wales don’t. Ireland don’t really. There are some positives to come from having lots of clubs and some negatives.”