This England team cannot keep underperforming in the Six Nations.
Steve Borthwick, as coach, and his players will be well aware of that. They don’t need all the criticism they’ve had since losing to Scotland and Ireland to tell them something they already know.
But England’s last Championship title was as long ago as 2020 and that’s not good enough for a team that has such quality players, depth of resource and heavy financial backing. There is no doubt they have underperformed badly in their last two games.
Borthwick and England have copped a lot of heat since and much of that has been fair given the level of the performances. When a team hits a crisis, those outside the environment expect all hell to break loose internally. That’s not the way to handle it at all.
England have gone from winning 12 straight matches to producing two really poor performances. I know exactly what it’s like for things to change so quickly. It’s tough to deal with, but a calm, measured response and not shouting and screaming is the way to go.
In 2012, we won a Six Nations Grand Slam with Wales and were on top of the world.
But at the end of that year, we lost all four of our autumn games. That run included embarrassing home defeats by Argentina and Samoa. We went from hero to zero, exactly like England have. When things go wrong and quickly, the temptation is to try and change or question everything. All sorts of thoughts go through your head.
Is the gameplan wrong? Are we training too much? Are we not training hard enough? What about the schedule? Is the food we’re eating good enough?
International rugby is so demanding physically that when the wheels fall off – as they have done with England – it can feel like things snowball and get away from you. That is why you have to stay composed.
Jamison Gibson-Park celebrates scoring a try in Ireland’s 42-21 hammering of England
I was impressed by Borthwick’s interviews after the Ireland game. He said England weren’t the best team in the world when they were on a long winning streak and emphasised that now his men have lost two in a row, they’re not all of a sudden the worst either.
This sort of messaging is incredibly important in professional sports environments. We live in an increasingly polarised society in which there seems to be no middle ground. Things are either amazing or a total disaster. You see that in all walks of life, but in reality it’s not like that and there is a middle ground to be found.
Back to my time with Wales. At the start of the 2013 Six Nations, our poor run continued and we lost at home to Ireland after falling 23-3 behind. At that point, it would have been easy to throw the baby out with the bathwater and start all over again.
But that was the worst thing we could have done and the same applies to Borthwick and England now. At that point, our coaches Warren Gatland, Shaun Edwards and Rob Howley took us totally back to basics.
It was reinforced to us as players that the key to getting back on track was limiting our error count, making ourselves hard to beat and doing the simple things well. We went to Paris and won 16-6.
It was a gritty performance and not a classic match. But reverting to the things that defined us as a team was crucial. After that Ireland game, we didn’t concede a try in that Six Nations, famously claiming the title with a 30-3 victory over England.
As quickly as things can go wrong in professional sport, they can change back again. So, all is not lost for England. Yes, of course, it is disappointing they aren’t in contention for a title they’d have hoped to win.
It was far too easy for Scotland and Ireland to beat England, their slow starts and high error count making it impossible to recover from heavy early deficits. George Ford twice missing touch against Ireland summed up England’s poor performance. They were unusual errors for a player of his undoubted quality.
Steve Borthwick and his coaching team, watching on against Ireland, must be calm and clear
They can happen, but it wasn’t nice to hear the England supporters sarcastically cheering when Ford did kick successfully. It wasn’t as if he was being booed as such, but it was reflective of the frustration of the home fans too.
In 2014, I was replaced in an autumn Test with Australia by Rhys Priestland who was booed and jeered by Welsh supporters when he came on. That was a really bad situation for Rhys and it’s not wrong to say it had a big impact on him and the team.
Any team, at any level, wants to feel backed. It’s just human nature.
I’m sure that will happen with England for their next game with Italy, predominantly because it’s the best away trip and I’m sure large numbers of supporters will travel.
England’s confidence will understandably have been shaken by what’s happened to them in this Championship, but they have a lot of experienced players who will drive the key messaging not to panic.
They will have to because England’s trip to Italy on Saturday is incredibly tricky. The Azzurri have never beaten England, but I think they’ve got a real chance of an upset.
England were so poor against both Scotland and Ireland that Borthwick had to make changes for Italy. But I am surprised by how many he’s gone for.
Elliot Daly (left) has been picked at full-back ahead of George Furbank in a totally new back-line
Fin Smith has replaced George Ford at No 10 for England’s crunch Six Nations trip to Italy
Hamstring and knee injuries suffered by Alex Mitchell and Ollie Lawrence meant they did have to step out. However, changing the whole back-line is a risk as it may well be difficult for England to be really cohesive.
With Fin Smith at No 10, Seb Atkinson at inside centre, Cadan Murley on the wing and Elliot Daly at full-back, Borthwick has opted to make significant changes in key positions. In Atkinson, Murley and Daly, he’s also brought in players who haven’t played a minute in the Six Nations so far.
I’m not sure bringing in a raft of new combinations for what is going to be a high-pressure game is a good combination. England may well be rusty as a result.
The only thing that has gone well for England in the past two games has been the scrum. But Italy have also been excellent in that area. They are now a very dangerous side and excellent out wide too. They will undoubtedly cause England problems.
England need to cut out errors and having seven or eight fresh faces who haven’t played together isn’t going to help that at all. If England can do what we did with Wales, they can soon get back to their best. Italy will push them very hard.
But I expect England to prevail, even if only narrowly.
England team to face Italy: Elliot Daly; Tom Roebuck, Tommy Freeman, Seb Atkinson, Cadan Murley; Fin Smith, Ben Spencer; Ellis Genge, Jamie George, Joe Heyes, Maro Itoje (capt), Guy Pepper, Tom Curry, Ben Earl
Replacements: Luke Cowan-Dickie, Bevan Rodd, Trevor Davison, Ollie Chessum, Sam Underhill, Henry Pollock, Jack van Poortvliet, Marcus Smith
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