Already, just halfway through their autumn campaign, England are in a battle to salvage respectability. Two wins from four this November felt like a bare minimum. And now, to achieve that, Steve Borthwick’s charges must overturn the Springboks next weekend.
It is a daunting task, particularly for a team suffering from recurring faults. While the Wallabies deserve immense credit for a fine victory, England are facing up to familiar shortcomings that do not have easy fixes.
Lack of trust in defence
It is sometimes unfair to interrogate the defence on a scoring phase of an opposition try, because it can be that terminal damage has been done before that point. England were also compromised by injuries, with both Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Ollie Lawrence going off and on again because of head injury assessments and Tom Curry withdrawn permanently in the 23rd minute.
However, the connections on the edge of England’s defensive line are being exploited regularly. Against the All Blacks, with Tommy Freeman going low on Wallace Sititi, George Furbank jammed into the same tackle. A superb offload allowed Mark Tele’a a one-on-one with Ellis Genge, which he seized gleefully:
A week on, Australia scored their first and last tries in similar scenarios. Prior to Tom Wright’s finish in the first half, Henry Slade rushed up without stopping Andrew Kellaway from transferring a pass to Joseph-Aukoso Sua’ali’i.
Ollie Sleightholme does not shoot up quite quickly enough to pressurise Sua’alu’i, who jinks to the outside shoulder beautifully. This coaxes George Furbank into turning inwards, and a deft pass does the rest:
Much later, in the final minute, with Marcus Smith now at full-back, Australia outflank the blitz again. And again, the edge of England’s defensive line is indecisive. The ball is moved beyond Slade via Ben Donaldson’s tip-on and another pass from Fraser McReight.
Smith, perhaps suffering from cramp by this point, is tentative in this rather unfamiliar role. He sits off and then steps in to help Sleightholme deal with Len Ikitau, leaving Max Jorgensen free.
Scrambling defenders cannot cover across in behind Smith and another flicked offload is enough to seal victory for Australia:
After the New Zealand loss, Borthwick suggested that England could not legislate for magical passes such as that of Sititi to Tele’a.
But a lack of mutual trust out wide is making it easier for attacks to pull the trigger. Indecision quickly turns a blitz system from a weapon into a wreck.
Insufficient punch in attack
Slade and Ollie Lawrence switching shirt numbers only really served to emphasise that England are persisting with a midfield that does not have a flinty, up-the-guts runner.
Even with eight consecutive starts together, it remains a centre partnership that looks better on paper than in practice.
One rather ominous moment arrived in the first quarter. England have a line-out in a useful position, but must work with scrappy ball when George Martin flaps it back. Lawrence, next to Ellis Genge, cuts a short angle into heavy traffic but is stopped and propelled backwards by the relentless McReight.
Australia react well, piling into the breakdown to force a turnover:
A dearth of carrying heft means England have to rely on speed and accuracy to eke out impetus from first-phase situations.
They did so in the build-up to Chandler Cunningham-South’s first try, with Tom Curry bouncing out of a maul and sending Ben Earl into the ‘seam’ of the Wallabies defence:
Intricate passing and exact angles are another way to mitigate for an absence of big boppers. But that requires synergy and skills. Here, Slade stands at first-receiver and feeds George Ford behind the decoy line of Earl.
Lawrence darts towards a gap, but cannot hold on and coughs up a try when Andrew Kellaway trots through:
The margins are fine. If Lawrence caught this cleanly, he would have been in the clear. But fumbling flat passes on first-phase moves became a hallmark of the July series in New Zealand as well:
Australia loaded up on uncompromising forward carriers, which allowed them to inject impetus if their phase play slowed down at any stage. Angus Bell and Taniela Tupou are rampaging props. In the back row, Rob Valetini and Harry Wilson were immense. Around these weapons, Tate McDermott sniped brilliantly to set up Wilson for Australia’s second try.
Genge grafted, but England do not seem like a team with either enough power or sufficiently slick handling to hold the ball and exert pressure over several phases. George Martin has not been secure in contact this autumn. Chandler Cunningham-South is not yet a force for the entire 80 minutes, and needed to last the whole match because of Curry’s early exit.
He threw a gorgeous pass for Sleightholme’s second, but Alex Dombrandt will not a puncture a crowded gain-line repeatedly. And, though this might sound sacrilegious, does the England back row appear slightly unbalanced with both Earl and Curry in it?
Forwards linked neatly in the first quarter, with Genge showing a desire to play quickly in his scrum-half pass off the deck to Smith in the lead-up to Cunningham-South’s second try:
Yet England lost their way from there. A burly No 8 capable of amassing up to 15 wholehearted carries per game would be pretty valuable to Borthwick at this point. Tom Willis, named in the England A squad last week, could fit the bill.
Collective, crippling lapses
Stark facts state that England have now lost five of their last seven Tests, giving up winning positions in each one. For all the talk of new beginnings and saying that they must build experience and cohesion, England should have enough know-how to navigate these situations.
Instead, there appears to be a crippling sense of collective fragility. It is a truism that Test matches, full of momentum shifts, must be won more than once. England, seemingly, are losing them multiple times.
On Saturday against Australia, a 15-3 lead gradually turned into a 28-18 deficit. And then, on the back of Itoje’s try with time for only one more restart, England could not protect their 37-35 advantage.
Refereeing cannot be held up as an excuse. Notwithstanding the call to allow Jeremy Williams’ try on Saturday, in the absence of any conclusive television evidence that the acrobatic lock had brushed the touchline prior to dotting down, England have probably enjoyed the rub of the green from officials; as one would expect for a home team.
The lapses surrendering impetus are often basic. At 15-3 up, another first-phase line-out strike goes awry when Genge cannot connect with Earl in midfield:
England do not touch the ball again until Australia have scored through Tom Wright. The Wallabies’ second try began with England conceding a scrum free-kick on their own put-in and then allowing Rob Valetini to surge 12 metres:
The hosts stayed on the back foot until Wilson went over from McDermott’s snipe:
Before half-time, another scrum free-kick turns into a penalty 30 metres further up-field when Cunningham-South blocks off Kellaway…
…and the Wallabies eventually add three points to go into half-time 20-18 ahead.
This moment in the second half, from the restart following Jeremy Williams’ try, is damning.
England expect the clearance from Noah Lolesio, and then from Wright, before being sliced up the middle by Australia’s full-back. It is a sloppy, naive piece of defence:
Lolesio kicks down-field and, having conceded a try, England are under pressure again.
Beyond Marcus Smith’s spark and the aerial work of Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Tommy Freeman, the latter of whom recovered several high balls against Australia, it is difficult to think of a facet of England’s game that looks reliable.
Their scrummaging, their line-out work, their attack and their defence are all prone to cracking under pressure. Clearly, that is far from ideal if a team wants to control the flow of game.
England have a week to address these shortcomings. They need no reminding that South Africa are well equipped to punish them.
