I’m usually very anti kicking someone when they are down and out but when it comes to this English rugby team, I’d don a pair of steel-toed work boots and kick away like a Muay Thai fighter who’s just done a boatload of amphetamines.
To say this English team is unlikeable is an understatement. Look, I had soft spots for some of their troupe a few years back but they have all amalgamated into a massive blob of a pantomime villain that the majority of rugby fans love seeing thwarted at every turn.
That pantomime villain was well and truly beaten by an underdog of a hero last weekend with Tier 2 nation Fiji beating England at Rugby HQ.
We are well and truly World Cup bound and this English side looks like an old boxer who is stumbling from rope to rope waiting for the dying embers of their career to fade away and fall into retirement.
So how has it come to this for an English side that hammered New Zealand in the semi-finals of the 2019 World Cup?
Coaching Saga
Eddie Jones left English Rugby in shit shape. The current Australian mentor’s experimental phase where he brought in countless players for a handful of caps has wreaked havoc. While he did bring in some talented players along the way, most of his surprise call-ups were soon back to only playing domestic and European rugby.
So when Jones was cut loose at the end of 2022, he left an unbalanced and aging squad for his successor, Steve Borthwick.
A Captain and Navigator Who are Sinking their Ship
Speaking of Borthwick, the former England International is simply not up to the task of managing this English side and should never have been considered for the role. While he was a fine forwards coach, he simply does not cut it as a head coach. England’s pointless box kicking and inability to score tries due to having no game plan is down to Borthwick and his coaching team more than anyone else.
Yes, the RFU’s decision to sack Jones less than a year out from the World Cup did force their hand, and it made sense to opt for someone who knew Jones’ systems but England have digressed so far under the stewardship of Borthwick that many fans would happily take Jones back.
Borthwick isn’t the only man with an issue in the English leadership group as his captain, Owen Farrell, isn’t helping matters either. The Saracens veteran has copped yet another ban for a dangerous tackle that will see him miss England’s start to the World Cup. Borthwick now has to go with either George Ford or Marcus Smith at fly-half for his sides first two World Cup games which is far from ideal considering he had put all his eggs in the Farrell at fly-half basket.
Gallagher Premiership Problems
It’s not just the national side that are having issues with a handful of Premiership sides folding since COVID or having to be placed in administration. This has significantly weakened England’s top tier domestic tournament and at times has turned it into something of a farce.
Wasps and the Worcester Warriors both dropped out of the Prem last season with a number of solid English players heading offshore to get a fast contract. It significantly weakened not just the English talent pool but the strength of the competition as well.
If you want further evidence that England’s domestic scene is not what it was a few years ago just look at last season’s Heineken Cup. While Saracens, Exeter and Leicester made the quarter-finals only Exeter got to the semis as they other sides found the going exceedingly tough against the top French sides and Ireland’s big dogs, Leinster.
Shambles of a Squad
This English squad has got to be one of the most unbalanced rugby has ever seen. They have a number of veterans who have passed their sell-by dates – Billy Vunipola, Owen Farrell and Jamie George – but none of the coaching staff are brave enough to call it.
They have a handful of talented youngsters who are starting to seem like full-time benchwarmers, this rings especially true for British and Irish Lions man Marcus Smith. They also have three centres that are insanely injury prone so they have lacked any consistency in their midfield.
This World Cup will likely be a very short and very forgetful one for this England squad.
