Steve Borthwick appoints his England squad on Monday… his team needs to play with speed, try new things and bring passion

Steve Borthwick names his English World Cup selection on Monday and when he sits down with those 33 players he has to draw a line under the horror show against Wales. That result should be forgotten – and fast.

The England head coach still has time to turn things around. Here’s my five-point plan for how he can do it…

PLAY AT PACE

England must find a way to play with pace. Borthwick’s side will not beat the best teams at the World Cup with the same old kick and chase tactics!

The way to make sure you play on pace is the speed of the game of lineouts, scrums and the breakdown. I used to shout ‘nine hanging’, which meant our scrum half was out of breath because he had to work so hard to get to every ruck. A team must be able to ask the scrum half: ‘Are you hanging?’ If he isn’t, the team isn’t playing fast enough!

From what I’ve seen of the Borthwick era so far, England are just far too slow in these three key areas of play. There should be a complete shift in approach with the handbrake off.

Stop suffocating care

To play 80 minutes with pace you need the right players on the pitch. My back row would be Tom Curry, Ben Earl and Zach Mercer. I would also have Alex Mitchell, Raffi Quirke or Ben Spencer as scrum half options.

Unfortunately, Mercer, Mitchell, Quirke and Spencer are not on the team, which is saying a lot! That said, England can speed up the way they play with the players Borthwick have selected.

It comes down to coaching and this needs to be taken to a totally different level. Danny Care plays fast in a Harlequins shirt but at England he is plainly told to kick and worse, slow the ball on rucks while getting runners in place.

In the opening 60 seconds of the Cardiff game, Care slowed the ball down and set the tone for the whole game. Jack van Poortvliet did the same when he came on and at that point England were trailing and chasing the match. Why? For me, it’s a recipe for disaster.

Give the first team time to gel

England have three games left before their World Cup opener with Argentina. Borthwick must choose his first-choice XV for the rematch with Wales at Twickenham on Saturday and give all England fans a team to find out. It should be the same for the trip to Ireland.

England’s key players can then rest against Fiji with Argentina in mind. Cardiff showed that England currently has no plan to beat the best in the world regardless of squad. As a coach, I always said that if I had four games, I could make an impact on any team. There is still time for Argentina, but the clock is ticking.

Try new things

England need to use their remaining warm-up games to bring their game up to the level needed to win the World Cup.

I didn’t mind England losing to Wales. Defeats happen. But what I did mind was the way they played, which really surprised me. Why kick three times in front of goal in the first half of a warm-up game?

England will have to do a lot more to be successful at the World Cup, so Borthwick needs to tell his players to use these games to try things out before it’s too late.

No ‘if onlys’, bring the passion!

I would tell the English players how good their chances are at the World Cup. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Some players in this squad will not play in any other.

The Borthwick players showed no sense of urgency in Cardiff. Many will now regret that game. It was a huge missed opportunity, especially for those on the fringes of the squad.

England have the players to beat any team and they still can, but we need passion and real excitement based solely on the way we are going to play. That is what top sport is all about.