SIR CLIVE WOODWARD: Victory was there for the taking for England but Steve Borthwick lost the plot… he made a criminal and decisive mistake
England’s latest defeat to New Zealand genuinely made me angry. Steve Borthwick’s methods must be questioned as the game was there for the taking.
The team was in control.
England were 22-14 ahead on the hour when Borthwick committed a crime of which he is not alone. All international coaches have faced this particular problem, perhaps with the exception of Rassie Erasmus.
On 60 minutes Borthwick made a series of clearly premeditated substitutions. Ben Spencer and Marcus Smith left.
Chandler Cunningham-South soon followed suit, despite all three players playing fine games. The fact that they were replaced cost England dearly.
Steve Borthwick’s decision to make changes against New Zealand proved costly for England
Marcus Smith had a great performance when he was substituted with twenty minutes to go
Chandler Cunningham-South (pictured) and Ben Spencer also made way, and England quickly lost control of the match
It was absolute madness. Not only did that trio stand out in an error-strewn but titanic game, but they were also in no way tired.
When Smith sat down on the couch, he almost looked around and shrugged his shoulders as if to say, “That’s it?” Am I done with that?’
For the first three quarters of the match, England were – overall – in control. The All Blacks scored two nice tries, but made many mistakes. Their discipline was poor.
With an eight-point lead, England had the game on their necks and had to hammer their lead home. Instead, with Harry Randall and George Ford at scrum-half and fly-half respectively, they opted to hold on to their lead.
This was a criminal and decisive mistake. In international rugby you can’t simply contain an opponent and try to maintain your advantage.
You must achieve victory for the full 80 minutes. This is not a personal criticism of an individual player, but more of a team tactic, driven by the head coach.
Taking Spencer and Smith away was a foolish decision. The same goes for the front row in England as New Zealand’s substitute props got on top at the set-piece and that gave them the platform and field position to take victory at the death.
When Ford arrived, he waved his hands and urged the team to calm down. To me it sent a completely wrong message. The message was: ‘We’re going to hold this now’ rather than ‘We’re going to continue playing and win the game’.
Borthwick’s attempts to consolidate control allowed the All Blacks to get into the match
And the visitors quickly took advantage of England taking their foot off the pedal
Ford’s missed penalty, which hit the post, and his final drop goal, which went wide, were not the reasons why England lost. The substitutions were there and England cannot hide from them.
It’s a huge opportunity that’s gone. When New Zealand captain Scott Barrett said England had ‘every chance’ to win the match, he was exactly right.
The team must – and I mean must – learn how to get through these tight games to become a top side. The top of the RFU must ask Borthwick difficult questions about this.
With three more games against Australia, South Africa and Japan to come, that is now difficult to achieve as international rugby evolves at an increasingly rapid pace.
However, if England want to learn from this experience and use it to improve themselves in the future, this must happen early this week.
It was a strange match in many ways. For all the talk about England’s attacking progress, I actually thought they were poor in that area and much better in defence.
Their only attempt came via Immanuel Feyi-Waboso on a full-field breakaway. Smith’s boot kept England upright. But although England’s defense was good overall, they still conceded three tries. Will Jordan’s efforts were a great example of what New Zealand can do. They make attacking rugby look so easy when done right.
George Ford had two final attempts to get England into the match but failed to convert
England have shown that they are also capable of doing this, but we did not see that on Saturday.
The back line was very quiet and it was such a shame that players like Ollie Lawrence and Tommy Freeman didn’t exist as running backs. Lawrence and Freeman are great with ball in hand. It’s more than a shame not to see them do this.
In the July 2-0 Test series defeat to New Zealand, England fell badly in the final quarter after a positive first 60 minutes. I don’t believe the reason what happened in the summer was entirely due to substitutions. But I definitely think that’s why it happened this time.
Coaching in international rugby is about feeling. It’s not a simple math game. If the key to winning Test matches was replacing certain players at certain times, anyone could do it. International coaching cannot – and never will – be about premeditated substitutions.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with not getting everyone off your couch. I have been consistent in that for a long time.
For example, when Dylan Hartley was captaining England, it really frustrated me that he was constantly taken off the field in the second half, despite being the leader.
England and Borthwick must learn valuable lessons from Saturday’s defeat and quickly
Although Smith was not a captain, he was in control of the English ship on Saturday and sailed on calm waters.
As he set out the sea suddenly became choppy and New Zealand had a whiff of victory where before there had been none.
Great honor to them for taking it over. For England, this should hurt, and for a long time, especially since the defeat was completely avoidable and of their own making.