Borthwick needs to rebuild England pack

IT was a well executed England game-plan against South Africa in the semi-final, but the other side of the coin is that they never looked like scoring a try. By comparison RG Snyman’s try for the Springboks was almost scored at will, because England never looked like stopping it.

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England’s wins in the pool stage of the 2023 World Cup gave them some momentum, especially the backsto-the-wall victory over Argentina. However, even though they always had a good chance of getting to the semi-finals – and achieved it after a one-point win over Samoa, and a narrow quarter-final victory over Fiji – England did very well to come so close to reaching another final.

I’m interested in where they go now, with the 2024 Six Nations so close. Steve Borthwick is very unlikely to just wipe the slate clean and start again, because the head coach and Owen Farrell have a strong connection.

I don’t believe it is a broad enough game to bring consistent success, but you also have to ask who can take over from Farrell at fly-half at the moment. Farrell is now 32, but while he is in the squad, and captain, Borthwick is bound to pick him – although I would be pleasantly surprised if he went for a wider strategy.

This would entail Borthwick thanking Farrell for what he has achieved, but saying that he needs to change the culture. To be fair to Owen, people wrongly point the finger at him, because often he can only play as well as the England pack allows him to – and these forwards do not regularly have the same physical impact as their counterparts for South Africa, New Zealand, France, and Ireland.

All the New Zealand forwards can pass and carry, whereas Dan Cole did not touch the ball in the entire semi-final. However, Cole and Joe Marler did a good job at the scrum against South Africa, Maro Itoje also showed up, George Martin did well, and Ollie Chessum and his younger brother are both coming through.