Sir Steve Hansen is not convinced that Steve Borthwick knows how he wants his England team to play and is not utilising his athletes\u2019 strengths.<\/p>\n
Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus said that England were difficult to prepare for because of how often they change their tactics and approach, but Hansen isn\u2019t sure that is necessarily a good thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cTactically Steve is a coach who chases trends, and that is always difficult to prepare against,\u201d said Erasmus the week before the Nations Championship clash at Ellis Park.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I said I knew exactly what they\u2019ll do next Saturday, I\u2019d be lying. There will be strong Northampton and Leicester representation in their squad, and they always evolve their structures. So, (given what we know about their club teams) we have a reasonable idea of what they will do, but on the day, they could do something completely different.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ultimately, the Springboks prepared well enough as they went on to claim an emphatic 45-21 victory over Borthwick\u2019s men in Johannesburg. A big part of the win was the way that Erasmus\u2019 side punished England<\/a> in the opening quarter with Thomas du Toit, Cheslin Kolbe and Kurt-Lee Arendse scoring tries to open up a 17-0 lead.<\/p>\n Sir Steve Hansen: Sacking Steve Borthwick isn\u2019t the answer<\/p>\n The hosts also punished the visitors\u2019 ill-discipline, capitalising on the sin-binning periods when Tommy Freeman and Guy Pepper were both yellow-carded. In his review of the match, Hansen<\/a> said that England simply cannot afford to give any team that kind of start, particularly not South Africa.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t start slow \u2013 it doesn\u2019t matter who you are. If you start slow and you give someone a 17-point head start, it\u2019s a hell of an effort to come back. Against the best team in the world, you just can\u2019t give them that head start. So, they\u2019ve got to sort that out,\u201d the ex-All Blacks boss said on the Rugby Unity podcast.<\/p>\n The defeat was England\u2019s fifth in a row, a stark fall from grace from the team that enjoyed a 12-Test<\/a> winning streak before the start of the Six Nations. A poor showing in the Championship led to an in-depth review of the England coaching group, with Borthwick getting the backing of the RFU board.<\/p>\n \u201cI know Steve\u2019s under pressure, but a lot of that pressure comes from the media and I guess the fans, because they want to win,\u201d Hansen added.<\/p>\n \u201cBut what\u2019s the next coach going to do? Sacking the coach isn\u2019t always the right answer.\u201d<\/p>\n England\u2019s two-card trick: the numbers behind a team that keeps sending itself off<\/a><\/p>\n Selection issues<\/p>\n Ewen McKenzie, the former Wallabies head coach, believes that there are selection issues with the England team and questioned whether the team\u2019s approach against the Springboks actually suited the playing personnel.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are a couple of selection issues there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI think Jamie George is probably getting towards the end of his time. They need a more dynamic two, and that\u2019s what teams are playing with. You need a good ball-carrying two.<\/p>\n Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n \u201cSo there are spot positions there that they can play with, but I think they\u2019ve moved on now from Ford. Playing Fin Smith might take some time to bed in. So theoretically, they\u2019ve got a high-skilled team. They\u2019ve got big, tall backs that should be able to compete for the aerial side of the game. I\u2019ve seen them do it, but for whatever reason, they weren\u2019t even in the contest.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo, I don\u2019t know what they\u2019re doing at training, but there\u2019s something missing there. Maybe it\u2019s an attitudinal thing. I don\u2019t know. But they\u2019ve got the raw ingredients. They\u2019ve got potentially a high-skill team. They\u2019ve got good ball-carrying front rowers \u2013 we saw that in Genge\u2019s try. They\u2019ve got depth; I don\u2019t know what\u2019s missing. Maybe they just need a little bit more time, but discipline is definitely a killer, and that\u2019s costing them. 10 yellow cards in the last six tests is pretty damning.\u201d<\/p>\n