Borthwick keeps faith in plan that explodes in his face

Another defeat after leading late on begs the question if the England head coach's system is seriously flawed

- Robert Kitson

One of the all-time great Wallaby Test victories has left England up a gum tree of their own making. Clearly Australia deserve huge praise for Saturday's spectacular ram raid, topped off by a record for points scored in this fixture at Twickenham. For the home side, however, a recurring failure to close out big games is now the subject of mounting scrutiny.

Scoring five tries and 37 points, for instance, should be enough to win any Test match. But only last March England scored 31 points and still lost to France. Yet another disturbing pattern is emerging, this time around their defensive solidity. It makes for cracking entertainment for neutrals, less so for those England fans who still have any hair left to pull out.

Because apart from 35 missed tackles in 80 minutes, their bench efficiency, their scrum, another grim injury to their best back-rower, a captain who is not on the pitch when it really counts and a head coach's unblinking faith in a gameplan that keeps exploding in his face, what else do England need to worry about? Not too much, really, just the world champion Springboks who are about to come rumbling over the hill this Saturday.