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The 4 England players Borthwick has been told to 'move on'
By Ian Cameron
Following England’s disappointing loss to Scotland in their round three Six Nations match at Murrayfield, former England fly-half Andy Goode has suggested that head coach Steve Borthwick should consider making significant changes to the team.
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England’s defeat by a score of 30-21 marks their fourth consecutive loss in the Calcutta Cup, a match that saw Scotland’s Duhan Van Der Merwe delivering a standout performance, including scoring a historic hat-trick. Despite a promising start that saw England leading 10-0 thanks to a try from George Furbank, the team was unable to maintain their momentum, ultimately succumbing to Scotland’s strategic play.
Goode – voicing his concerns over the current state of the England team – has called for the removal of four senior players: Joe Marler, Dan Cole, George Ford, and Elliot Daly. Citing the team’s underwhelming performance since reaching the semi-finals of the 2019 World Cup, Goode expressed his belief that significant changes are necessary for the team to evolve.
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“There’s a fair few players that Steve Borthwick needs to move on if we are going to evolve, Marler, Cole, Ford, Daly to name a few, we’ve been bang average at best since the 2019 World Cup semi final,” wrote Goode on X, who alongside the proposed player changes, Goode also questioned the effectiveness of Borthwick and some of his coaching staff, suggesting that their positions should be reevaluated in light of recent performances. “I actually don’t think Borewick [sic] and some of his assistant coaches should stay.”
He wasn’t the only one directly critical of the current England regime. Martin Gillingham wrote: “Only a fool would pretend the key to unlocking England Rugby’s full potential is easily found. But the stark reality is that, more than a year into the job, Steve Borthwick appears no closer to locating it. In weighing up today, consider Scotland has just two professional teams.”
Writing in is RugbyPass+ column, Mick Cleary wrote: “Borthwick, of course, is not a man to lift the spirts by his demeanour alone. He is well-intentioned but his public face and utterances would drain the energy from a Duracell Bunny. But, and here’s the rub, he is a tough bugger and now that he has embarked on a Felix Jones-nurtured change of direction – blitzing in defence, having-a-look-at-least in attack – he has to stick to his guns.”
England go into a fallow week with the prospect of the massive challenge of Grand Slam favourites Ireland in Twickenham in 12 days’ time in round 4.
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When Scotland's half-backs play in France and England, I don't think you can credit Scotland only having 2 teams for their increased cohesion. What they have is a coach with a vision and buy-in from the players.
“Scotland has just two professional teams.”
Scotland's player pool is the entire planet.
Scotland played extremely well and played for each other against an over confident Twickenham outfit who are well over priced
Andy.
Bit unfair to mention Marler and Cole.
Cole especially played really well.
The handling errors came elsewhere. Ford threw 4 bad passes that the receiver knocked on as out of reach or aimed at the head.
The back line is utterly devoid of nous and poor Daly,Slade get scraps to try to work with .
The problem has been glaring for the last couple of years. England have relied on a kick chase when the best teams mix it up. Russell kicked the ball more times than Ford but boy was it to good intent whereas Ford just belts it in the air . And Russell runs rings around Ford when it comes to conjouring a try.
The one off runners being caught and turning over the ball were also the culprits. Poor coaching.
Unless Borthwick gives others a chance when certain individuals repeatedly fail to perform then England will only win 2 again .
Spot on. No point blaming the players. I feel really sorry for Slade. The guy is one of the silkiest, most talented backs we've ever produced, BOD loves him and anyone who understands back play can see he is a wizard at putting players into space. Yet when he plays for England he looks pretty average because he is so criminally misused. We might as well just have Tuilagi and Ben Earl in the centre. I do think Feyi-Waboso has to start instead of Daly though. Daly did ok on the wing in his prime but he's not an international winger… I'd like to see someone else get a shot at 10 but understand why we haven't seen that so far.
That’s right Andy Scotland have just 2 teams, similarly Ireland draw on Leinster in the main. That is they have players who play together week in week out for club and Country and at the moment England look like the players are still getting used to each other. Also I don't think it was Cole or Marler making the handling errors on Saturday the were clearly doing their jobs in the scrum and doing it well. You should stick to your execrable dialogue about the male genitalia rather than cheap shots about the coaches media performance.
Poor Daly, poor Daly, what rubbish, he’s been ineffective for a long time. He’s not an international quality winger he’s been given too many chances on the back of being able to play in various positions and his “ big “ kick that's not happened for a long time either. Borthwick is smothering them with his way of playing, he’s recruited an attack coach and put him in charge of defence and an attack coach that's hardly got any Premiership coaching experience. It was all a big rush job when the donut Jones was binned, Borthwick obviously said I'll come if my mates can too. Too much loyalty shown to the old boys who lumber around, no dynamism, second rows that don't look like they could run through a wet paper bag without falling over, and on and on. Good players are being suffocated.
“Scotland only have 2 professional teams” - thats why theres a load of residency/ exile players playing. So the fact they have 2 professional teams is irrelevant when their co-captain plays outside of those and their try scorer came from outside of those.
Yes, I know it is within the rules before anyone jumps up and down, but to say they are restricted to 2 teams for players is nonsense. The team playing for Scotland deserved their win and England are dreadful. But please call a spade a spade; Scotland are relying on eligibility rules, and dont pay to develope a good chunk of the players who play for their national side.
They have a far better sense of team spirit though than England. We had it at the world cup, gone again now.
Last time I checked, Rory Darge was playing his club rugby in Scotland with Glasgow …. And the try scorer plays for Edinburgh
Scotland started with only 3 players that do not play for Glasgow or Edinburgh - Finn, Ben White and Kinghorn - who only recently moved to Toulouse.
Scotland do rely on eligibility rules - as do Wales, Ireland, France, Italy and let’s be honest so do England …. But less so in Englands case.
A lot of that is due to the economic migration that continues to take place that has a particular impact on Scotland and Wales - if which England are not impacted by.
Scottish team are starting to produce more home grown players as the pathway systems are overhauled …. But the eligibility rules do exist and everyone is free to use them.
Borthwick is not the man to lead England to glory, but sadly I don’t see many free coaches that could do a better job. Sam Vesty is a must for the attack though.
Nick Evans is also a good attack coach. The problem is that Borthwick and good coaching are not a comfortable fit.
Hands off Vesty , he’s just re-signed at Saints