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Steve Borthwick is facing a selection headache as England seek to get their Six Nations campaign back on track against Ireland on Saturday, with Henry Arundell set for disciplinary action after his red card against Scotland.
England have promised an “honest and emotional” review into their dismal Calcutta Cup defeat before Borthwick decides how to configure his backline against Ireland, with Arundell facing the prospect of a suspension for his two yellow cards against Scotland.
Tournament organisers have confirmed that a red card accrued for receiving two yellows will trigger the disciplinary process. Arundell’s first yellow was shown for not releasing, the second for taking out Kyle Steyn in the air.
Borthwick’s wing options are already depleted with Immanuel Feyi-Waboso nursing a hamstring injury, and Arundell’s expected unavailability would leave the head coach without any express pace for the visit of Andy Farrell’s side. Elliot Daly is in the wider squad but has been out of form this season while Cadan Murley, who endured a torrid debut against Ireland 12 months ago, is another option.
Alternatively, Borthwick could shelve his strategy of picking Tommy Freeman at outside-centre, restore the Northampton player to the wing and select Ollie Lawrence in midfield. Marcus Smith and George Furbank are also likely to come into contention given they both offer a creative spark that was sorely lacking against Scotland, who brought England’s 12-match winning run to a juddering halt.
Borthwick did his best to avoid overreacting in the aftermath of the defeat on Saturday but a third successive loss at Murrayfield has burst his side’s bubble and has ended England’s grand slam pursuit for another year. They will now have to beat Ireland – who got back to winning ways against Italy – to have any realistic hopes of securing a first Six Nations title in six years.
Ireland were made to work by an impressive Italy side before completing a 20-13 victory in Dublin at the weekend. The manner in which they were beaten on the tournament’s opening night by France was further evidence that this Ireland side appears to be in decline but Borthwick was full of praise for Farrell’s men. “They’ve got such enormous amounts of talent,” Borthwick said.
“How many starting British and Irish Lions do they have on their team? The whole Lions coaching team. They play together so often, given the Leinster influence and only coming from a limited number of teams. They’re a very good team. They’ve been at the top of the world rankings for a long period of time.”
After tournament organisers opted to remove a fallow week from the competition this year, England have the opportunity to put things right immediately against Ireland. “You’d hate to go into a fallow week now and be licking your wounds after a result like that,” the scrum-half Alex Mitchell said.
“So it’s perfect we’ve got another chance to go at Ireland on Saturday to right some wrongs. So, yes, it’s perfect timing.”
The squad reconvened at England’s Bagshot base on Sunday night with some uncomfortable reviews ahead before attentions turn to Ireland. Furbank is fit again after recovering from a head injury, as is Billy Sela, who replaces George Kloska.
“I always will try and review a game from a neutral standpoint,” the centre Fraser Dingwall said. “I think that after a win or a loss, you’ve got to be incredibly honest so you kick on and grow and develop, irrespective of the result. As ever, there are parts that won’t be as bad as you think they are, but there are parts that will be tough to watch back as well. You’ve got to be honest and confront those in both senses.
“The emotional side will be around the contact stuff, the physicality stuff, the moments which are based upon desire and effort. But we’ll be very clinical and direct when it comes to detail bits in how we can develop and what we are trying to do.”
