Steve Borthwick’s side still lack an effective Plan B while Warren Gatland’s aim is to avoid embarrassment in Rome
. There are no play-yourself-in pool games, no one-off-the-mark half-volleys. The opposition want your guts from minute one and, particularly away from home, there is no hiding place. Even in boxing they allow you a pair of padded gloves and a breather every three minutes.
Because for all their first-half spirit and defensive energy, England are increasingly mired in sporting quicksand. The more effort they expend to extricate themselves the deeper they seem to be sinking.
It is not a name change that English rugby needs currently, however, as much as an honest assessment of the direction in which the men’s national team – and by extension the RFU itself – are heading. Even if fierce in-fighting within the union was not raging out of control, with a special general meeting scheduled to take place next month and the position of the chief executive, Bill Sweeney,Fig leaves are in increasingly short supply.
England do not have that luxury. Almost all the Premiership’s finest have found the Champions Cup a daunting step up this season and that theme is threatening to resurface in this Six Nations. France scored 53 pointsand another desperately tough day at the office is now looming for England. Once losing becomes a habit, as it now seems to be, the job becomes harder still.
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