6 days Ago By Joe Krishnan
England have been accused of repeating the same old errors in their 29-20 defeat to South Africa as the pressure mounts on under-fire coach Steve Borthwick. After a fast start from the hosts, world champions South Africa stamped their authority on the game after running in three tries, with Cheslin Kolbe scoring two of them. It meant Borthwick's men succumbed to a fifth consecutive defeat, leaving the 45-year-old under immense pressure to turn things around in their next fixture against Japan.
Former England international Austin Healey, 51, criticised their display against South Africa, branding Saturday's loss at Twickenham on Saturday as "simply not good enough". Healey, who had been working as a co-commentator as part of TNT Sports' coverage of the game, ripped into England's flops for failing to heed the lessons from their previous defeats to New Zealand and Australia. “The whole point of going to school is that you learn the lessons from the mistakes of the last two weeks," Healey said.
“New Zealand, Australia, 15 minutes to go - England do exactly the same things. They bite in on the outside when they don't need to. "They numbered up defensively, stay connected, move forward, make your tackles, don't drop off.
Because if you don't, against good sides, they break tackles and score tries against you. Simply not good enough.” Borthwick did not hold back in his assessment of England's failure to take their chances after coming out on the losing side of a relatively even contest.
"I am incredibly disappointed and frustrated," Borthwick said. "You see so much good, the way the team came out of the blocks at the start and came at South Africa. "Then for a long time the game was toe-to-toe, but in the last period we failed to take our opportunities.
How many times did we fail to take our chances in their 22? "These are painful days. At times we are putting ourselves in positions to win games and we are not converting them. Whilst these are painful, we will use them in a positive way to help with our development.
" England are now winless since June and Borthwick could be left fighting to save his job if they suffer a sixth consecutive defeat in their final Autumn Nations Series fixture. England will face their former coach Eddie Jones, now in charge of Japan, as they desperately look to end their current slide since reaching the World Cup semi-finals..
