6 days Ago By Michael Hincks
TWICKENHAM — Jamie George , the England captain, summed up this latest near-miss up as “we created a lot of opportunities against a world-class team” – and that was the tale of this autumn in a nutshell. The November ransacking of Twickenham is complete: three losses out of three for England, and the description of “world-class” can only be applied to their opponents. Forget the visit of Japan next Sunday to close England’s Test year out – the matches that matter were over and done as South Africa completed a southern-hemisphere hat-trick, following New Zealand and Australia here .
How many world-class players do England currently have? It’s an uncomfortable question, but legitimate to ask, as it is the only benchmark worth setting for the head coach Steve Borthwick and his squad. Read Next England lose again as South Africa confirm worst Twickenham run for 18 years George himself at the peak of his career, which may be just behind him although he still has plenty to give, was worthy of the phrase. Marcus Smith has stamped himself as England’s attacking fulcrum this autumn , grubber-kicking like a good’un against the Wallabies, and on Saturday seeing space beautifully for the first try by Ollie Sleightholme against the Springboks, in addition to kicking well, short and long, narrow and wide.
Maro Itoje and Ben Earl and Sam Underhill and Ellis Genge are among the others who stand tall with the best, for long periods, and the newer back-rower Chandler Cunningham-South and a couple of the young-buck backs are getting there – the closeness of the scorelines shows this. But results are crucial in conferring world-class status, and right now England’s results are abysmal. Three home losses in a row for the first time since 2006, and four wins out of 11 in this calendar year, against Italy, Wales, Ireland and Japan.
The point about England could be not so much individual quality, as you have to believe there is enough around, even while a significant number are off limits at French clubs . It is the splintering of team cohesion and inability to rely on each other not to blow a winning position, and carry themselves forward towards greatness. A dumb pre-latching penalty conceded by Will Stuart after a slow pass from Itoje, the marginal neck-roll call against Itoje, an illegal dummy line-out throw by Luke Cowan-Dickie, the missing support when Genge made a carry, the falling off big tackles – these are signals of a team struggling to cope with the highest standards.
There was no substitution of Smith by England on this occasion, but whether he is on for 60 or 80 minutes, the fly-half is having to cement his place while many elements around him are fluid. Read Next The XV Borthwick could pick if England scrapped absurd overseas policy One task for England as soon as possible is to learn how to read Smith and go with him, to maximise what he’s got. And Smith would surely berate himself for not getting greater length on penalty kicks to touch in the final quarter.
It was so telling that during that period South Africa were a man down with prop Gerhard Steenekamp in the sin bin, and still they grew stronger. “Their line speed went up, their attack at the breakdown went up,” said an admiring Borthwick of the Boks. His South Africa counterpart, Rassie Erasmus, defined it as “experience” and “hanging in there”, and rightly praised a “big play” by Damien de Allende with his bursting line break and fantastic whipped-miss pass for Kolbe’s game-breaking try on 62 minutes.
This added to the quality moments from opponents cascading in the memory of the last three weeks at Twickenham, which have by the way been spectacularly entertaining. Damien McKenzie’s brilliant touchline conversion for New Zealand, Joseph Sua’ali’i’s super-skilful debut for Australia, and now the mesmerising shifts of feet by South Africa’s master finisher, Cheslin Kolbe. Read Next The Springbok out to pile misery on England - just don't call him an 'enforcer' Kolbe could hang his boots up now if he liked, and his place in the pantheon would be assured – and of course it helps when he and a load of these Springboks have two World Cups to their name; honours this England can only dream of.
Courtney Lawes, a recent England past master much missed since his Test retirement, said on TNT Sports the World Cup in 2027 is the thing – and that is a valid straw to clutch at, and shows it’s not just coaches who plead the need to see the long view. There were 13 England players not around on Saturday from last year’s World Cup semi-final, so it is also valid for Borthwick to speak of transition and bringing young players through. “The feeling I get from the RFU is absolute support,” he said.
And the Twickenham crowd have not turned in his team, either. But there are growing pains in the pursuit of improvement that are probably also necessary if a five-star rating is eventually to be achieved..
