England arrived at Murrayfield announcing their intentions to be “bulletproof”. Truth be told this was Scotland shooting fish in a barrel. Punishing mistakes, of which there were a litany, Gregor Townsend’s team exposed the glaring limitations of Steve Borthwick’s side that will be desperately difficult to recover from.
Defeats happen, England’s winning run was always going to end sooner or later, but the paucity of this performance is some setback for a side whose grand slam hopes are over for another year. Two years ago Borthwick bemoaned how England had “played small” after a fast start, unable to stem Scotland’s momentum after giving up the initiative. Here they barely played at all. For England unravelled at Murrayfield again. It is as if Flower of Scotland flicks a switch in these players and Murphy’s law makes a mockery of them.
The mistakes were calamitous, from Henry Arundell’s two yellow cards to George Ford’s charged down drop-goal attempt via Ellis Genge fluffing his lines. But there were systemic problems running through this England performance that will concern Borthwick more. Ill-discipline plagued them throughout; the kicking game upon which they rely so heavily was not reaping any rewards yet still they persevered; the absence of a second playmaker denied England any fluidity; they missed 20 tackles in the first half alone; and their decision-making left much to be desired.
To illustrate, England began the second half with a flea in their ear and a spring in their step. The scrum was the one aspect of the game in which they had the ascendancy. They were awarded another penalty for their dominance within 10 metres of the Scotland posts and the referee Nika Amashukeli could be heard telling Scotland, and the whole stadium, that one more infringement and he would show a yellow card, thereby levelling the sides at 14 v 14, with Arundell off the field for 20 minutes.
The only decision was to call for another scrum but instead England kicked for goal and didn’t score another point until the 78th minute. These are the kinks that Borthwick must iron out if England are to become the side they have been threatening to be of late.
The first thing the head coach must do for Ireland’s visit next week is restore Ollie Lawrence to the starting lineup. The Bath man is understood to be miffed at the fact he finds himself fit but out in the cold, unsure as to where he stands. He was in stunning form 12 months ago and one of England’s star turns in the autumn victory against New Zealand but he has been the fall guy for Borthwick’s determination to make Tommy Freeman into a centre. It is an experiment that needs to be stopped.
Borthwick spoke in the week of the value of having such versatility when it comes to picking a World Cup squad. He would be wise to remember that putting too much focus on World Cup preparations during Six Nations campaigns was significant in the downfall of Eddie Jones.
Was this hubris? Fraser Dingwall is a tryer, Freeman a superb wing and they are familiar with each other as Northampton teammates but Borthwick will have been only too aware that Townsend would pick an all British & Irish Lions partnership in Sione Tuipulotu and Huw Jones. Those two delivered a world-class performance, Dingwall and Freeman thoroughly outshone. Individually they made errors – Dingwall for the second week running choosing to grubber when he really ought to have passed while Freeman was woefully out of position for Scotland’s second try – but, in picking these two and Freddie Steward at full-back, Borthwick denudes this side of creativity. Marcus Smith was not even in Scotland but he is another who should return to the matchday squad next week, while it is time to hand Henry Pollock a first start.
England’s problems ran deeper than selection, however, because very few players justified their places, the tireless Ben Earl aside. They were led a merry dance by Finn Russell, Scotland’s matador making England’s charging bulls look foolish, never more so than in the buildup to Ben White’s try, and each error seemed to be compounded by another. England’s ball-handling in Scotland’s 22 was abysmal and they displayed a failure to stem the Scottish tide, to regroup, to weather setbacks and go again.
Maro Itoje was considerably off the pace – as shown by the fact the returning captain was hooked – and he was unable to lead his side through the storm. That was supposed to be one of the major strides forward that this England team were taking, but still a statement away win eludes Borthwick and his men. Let’s not write this side off just yet, perhaps this was one bad day at the office, but the disappointment stems from just how bad it was and the feeling that we have been here before.
Two years ago, after a crushing defeat in Scotland, Borthwick took his squad to York for a training camp. It proved to be the catalyst for an upturn, more emphasis was to be put on throwing the shackles off, on attacking with purpose and they pulled off a thrilling victory against Ireland at Twickenham in their next match. There will be no decamping next week but there will be plenty of soul-searching before Ireland are in town once more next Saturday.