Sir Clive Woodward has sung Steve Borthwick’s praises after England defeated Italy in their second match of the Six Nations on Sunday.
Woodward was highly critical of Eddie Jones while in charge of the Red Rose but is singing off an entirely different hymn sheet with Borthwick at the helm.
The former England coach hailed Borthwick for his selections against the Azzurri but warned that they would need to improve with a trip to Cardiff next, followed by Tests against France and Ireland.
Going up a level
“England should be hugely excited by the challenges to come in Cardiff, against France at Twickenham, and in Dublin on the final weekend. Everything goes up a level now,” Woodward wrote in his SportsMail column.
“I was complimentary of Borthwick’s selection for Italy and it paid off handsomely. Owen Farrell had a good game at No 10 and the midfield balance between him, Lawrence and Henry Slade worked well.
“But there are still so many things England can improve upon.”
Work-ons
While the overall tone of Woodward’s piece was positive, he did have a few work-ons and critiques for Borthwick.
He felt that Borthwick did not use the substitutions particularly well and that England weren’t ruthless enough in the second half of the Six Nations clash.
“Their forwards did a good job. I was hoping England would build on that in the second period, but it didn’t happen. Part of that was because Italy were much improved after the break,” he wrote.
“But again, I don’t think England helped themselves with their use of substitutions. Borthwick’s poor use of replacements cost England victory against Scotland. Against Italy, I didn’t see the need to make changes.
“Kyle Sinckler was injured, but at the start of a new England era I’d like to see England keep a settled team on the field for as long as possible to help the players work on combinations.
“Yes, Henry Arundell and Alex Mitchell made an impact by combining for a try. But I didn’t see the need for Mako Vunipola to replace Ellis Genge or for Marcus Smith to come on.”
Woodward noted that England would need to go up another level with a trip to Cardiff to face Wales up next, which he admits is never an easy place to go.
Ireland, Scotland and France
Shifting his attention to Saturday’s Six Nations matches, Woodward hailed Ireland and France for producing a ‘phenomenal game of rugby’.
“I’ve seen a lot of Six Nations rugby over the years in a number of different roles and I thought Ireland’s win over France in Dublin was right up there with the very best I’ve witnessed,” he added.
“It was simply a phenomenal game of rugby. The first thing to say was that after so much negativity in the sport, we needed a match like that. It was a brilliant advert for rugby.”
While he was highly complimentary about Ireland, he did have some praise for the other unbeaten side in the tournament, Scotland.
“Ireland are firm grand slam favourites on current form, but Scotland also deserve plenty of credit and they were excellent in the second half against Wales who are in a right pickle,” he wrote.
He concluded by stating that the next few weeks will tell us how far behind England are from the rest and if they can make up the ground.
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