sport news SIR CLIVE WOODWARD: Defeat to Scotland is a harsh lesson for England's new ... trends now
View
comments
It was a fantastic game at Twickenham yesterday, and Scotland deserved to win because they had more in their back division. England have so much to work on. There are harsh lessons for Steve Borthwick to take from defeat in his first game in charge.
I’m still very positive about Borthwick’s appointment as head coach. But he and his team will have to realise what is needed to be successful at Six Nations level very quickly if they are to turn things around.
I think that if England had won the game last night they might have learned the wrong lessons, so a loss could actually benefit them in the long run.
There were three main things that caused me frustration about the England display. The first was that the box kicking of Jack van Poortvliet was far too long on a consistent basis. I wrote in my column ahead of the game that England couldn’t afford to kick loosely to the Scotland back three. That is exactly what happened.
Duhan van der Merwe’s stunning try was what I talked about earlier in the week about the Six Nations players of today creating iconic moments fans will remember forever.
The defeat to Scotland taught Steve Borthwick and his new regime plenty of harsh lessons
Scotland deserved to win the tense clash but there are several things England must now learn
It was a brilliant effort, but from an England perspective it came about because Van Poortvliet’s clearance didn’t allow his team-mates to compete for possession.
Van der Merwe was allowed all the time in the world to run the ball back and, to his credit, he did it brilliantly. I am sure Kevin Sinfield would have been disappointed by England’s defence.
I am equally as sure that when Sinfield reviews the game, he will be asking why the England players were kicking so long.
