4 hours ago
5
So let’s rewind for a moment. Just four weeks ago England had beaten Wales 48-7 in round one and were looking towards Scotland with a collective glint in their eyes. “The message to the players is: go out, move the ball, play fast, play brave,” Steve Borthwick said after announcing a pretty settled side for Murrayfield. “It suits the team we have.”
And now? Not unlike the Ashes cricket series in Australia this winter, the team sheet for the final game of an already torpedoed campaign is a case of too little too late. Similarly to the cult of Bazball, the bell is tolling for the Borthball era. Even if the head coach remains in post, it is inconceivable that England’s tactical approach can remain unchanged.
The snag, of course, is that only so much remedial work is possible in a couple of days on the training field with a battered, downcast squad resigned to being title also-rans. Having tried and failed to shake things up with nine personnel changes last week, Borthwick clearly felt it would be counterproductive to do so again.
Pretty much the same players who came up short against Italy in Rome have been asked, therefore, to dig deep against France. They will be professional about it, but the message it sends to England’s frustrated fans is not particularly upbeat. Ollie Chessum starting at No 6 to bolster the forward effort in an otherwise identical starting XV, employing similarly flat-packed tactical instructions? Pick the inspirational headlines out of that.
Instead there is a whiff of damage limitation in the air. Better to lose by a respectable margin with a semblance of cohesion than roll the dice again and potentially risk a 40-point thrashing that increases the chances of regime change. The list of former England internationals publicly casting doubt on whether Borthwick is the man to take the national team forward is already lengthening by the day.
It could yet be different if England can spectacularly poop France’s party but that will require a marked improvement on multiple fronts. Above all else, it is the energy and intent of the visiting performance that will be closely monitored. If a lacklustre visiting side end up slipping to a fourth successive Six Nations defeat, the external pressure will inevitably mount.
Either way, do not expect torrents of extravagant attacking poetry. The plan is a familiar one: try to soak up early France pressure, kick high and often, profit from a lucky ricochet or two and bring Marcus Smith and Henry Pollock off the bench to carve up against weary legs later on. Hopefully the scrum will also go well. No point playing the French at their own fizzing game for 80 minutes. It may also help if the weather’s rubbish.
But should that really be the height of English attacking sophistication? Look at how Scotland tore into the same opposition and how much the Scots and the French have backed their sharp-witted fly-halves, Finn Russell and Matthieu Jalibert. By contrast, England rarely seem to trust their own creative types to the same extent. Smith, assuming he gets on, is poised to win his 50th cap but it still feels as if the Harlequin does not have the management’s entirely unwavering faith.
On that subject, how will this largely unadventurous team sheet go down among the squad’s fringe members? Along with Smith and Pollock, Borthwick has talked up Chandler Cunningham-South, Greg Fisilau and George Furbank only to use them primarily as training‑field fodder. And what about other excellent players, such as Max Ojomoh, Alfie Barbeary and Ted Hill, the Bath trio resolutely ignored of late?
Is it all simply tactical or a product of innate conservatism? How much of a belated attempt, for instance, has been made to obtain an exceptional circumstances exemption to cut through the regulatory red tape surrounding the Toulouse-based Jack Willis and his brother, Tom, who is heading to Bordeaux from Saracens this summer? In a perfect world both would be valuable assets in Paris this weekend.
Questions, questions. This tournament has been concertinaed into a shorter timeframe than normal but Henry Arundell’s hat-trick on the opening weekend feels like half a century ago. What was that aforementioned Borthwick mantra? “Go out, move the ball, play fast, play brave.” Were they empty words or did he truly mean them? Run wild in Paris, where Ireland lost 36-14 last month, and the narrative will shift again. Finish with the fewest number of wins England have ever recorded in a Six Nations season and Borthball will be French toast.
