'The England pack is probably the smallest, least physical pack we have had'

Former captain Nick Easter has delivered a withering verdict on Steve Borthwick’s attempt to make England a competitive force at the Rugby World Cup and insists the head coach should have chosen Zach Mercer and Tom Willis ahead of the banned Billy Vunipola to give the squad much needed dynamic ball carrying at No8.

Controversially, Borthwick opted to pack his back row with No7’s and one of those – Ben Earl – must reprise his part-time role at No8 against the powerful Fiji pack on Saturday which includes in-form No8 Bill Mata.

The 54-cap former England No.8 told RugbyPass: “The England pack of the last year is probably the smallest, least physical pack we have had. Borthwick is playing a game that is set up for monster forward pack that is going to get more than parity yet picks a bunch of No7’s and one No8 - it just doesn’t make sense. I don’t understand the logic behind it.

“We cannot grind teams down – we are not a side capable of doing that – and to select one No.8 and a group of brilliant No.7s means you are not going to have guys with the tonnage to make the hard yards - it just doesn’t add up.

“In my opinion, Billy Vunipola hasn’t been playing well for three or four years and now he is banned. Billy was world-class in 2016-17 but has been nowhere near that form and it may be that teams have caught up with him or he has lost that dynamism. I am absolutely shocked that Zach Mercer wasn’t taken. I would have taken Zach and Tom Willis because I don’t think Alex Dombrandt had a good Six Nations – there is too much looseness in his game. He needs to work on physicality in the close quarters.

“Zach was player of the year in France and that cannot be ignored. For decades England have wasted world class talent and we continue to do that and it is very frustrating. It was the same when I was playing for England and we still don’t seem to be getting it right.

“Over the years, England have had trouble with No.10, No.12 and deciding on a fetcher at No.7, but we never had an issue with tighthead prop, right-hand lock and No8 in terms of producing those players of a good size. I am not one for size wins matches but a good big un beats a good little un.

Nick Easter (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

“The way Steve Borthwick has set England up is to play like South Africa of 2019 and 2021 with the best forward pack, best kick chase and the best defence because you have the best physical guys. We haven’t. The Six Nations proved that last year and nothing has changed. “

Easter knows all about difficult World Cup campaigns having been involved in the 2007 tournament that saw England hammered 36-0 by South Africa in the pool stages and then dramatically changed their fortunes to eventually lose to the Springboks in the final in Paris. Many England fans are hoping Borthwick can mastermind a similar transformation after lack lustre warm-up games but Easter does not believe the current squad has the necessary manpower.” My God I hope something like that happens again because we need a revival of English rugby; “ added Easter.

“I am not sure it will because while like this squad we had quality players who may have been past their best, at least those guys in 2007 were in the pack and we had some huge forwards. We were capable of dominating teams. It is more difficult to rip up a game plan and say we are now going to throw the ball to all parts because that kind of tactical plan takes years to sort out as Ireland have shown under Andy Farrell.”

Easter, the former Newcastle, Worcester defence coach, has been undertaking a forwards and defence role with the USA and has just watched the Eagles lose 22-7 to Georgia who are in the same World Cup pool as Wales, Australia, Fiji and Portugal. The Georgian pack remain a real threat and they have added a couple of talented backs to improve their attack as Scotland will find out at Murrayfield this weekend.

Easter, who is director of rugby at Chinnor RFC, explained: “It will be a good test and I would expect Scotland to win by 20 points especially coming off two testing games with the French. Australia are really struggling in the front row and their attack isn’t clicking and if Joe (Worsley) drills the Georgian defence to stay connected they can really tie up the Aussies because they will be bigger and heavier.

“They could really suffocate the Aussies while also turning the screw in the scrum. We saw the Welsh struggle against Georgia when they brought on their replacement front rowers. Having been on top in the first half it was a case of good night nurse when they changed personnel and the Georgian replacement front rowers were like a hot knife through butter and it won them the game. “