England Rugby World Cup winner Ben Kay has urged Steve Borthwick to alter their defensive system after a disappointing Autumn Nations Series.
The Red Rose went into the end-of-year campaign with high hopes, but they lost their first three games to the All Blacks, Wallabies and Springboks.
Although they finished with a dominant triumph over Japan, Borthwick’s men took a step backwards.
It was the first series under new defence coach Joe El-Abd, who has taken over following the shock resignation of Felix Jones, and England struggled.
Poor defensive record
They conceded 14 tries in four matches as the team regularly got the blitz wrong, allowing their opponents to open them up.
With Jones, who employed a Springboks-style rearguard, serving out his notice period away from the camp, Kay believes that they need to change the system ahead of the Six Nations.
“Ditch the blitz, I’ve got no problem with them trying it but I just don’t think it’s worked. Particularly now they haven’t got Felix Jones, they need to move on from that,” he told TNT Sports.
“We all know that they’ve changed their defensive style, they’ve got a new coach in, that’s not his bread and butter, coaching of that particular defensive system.
“So even in terms of the authenticity for the players, Felix Jones was this advocate of this way of defending, you’ve now got a guy in who the players know is new to this way of defending, so just in terms of selling it to the players is harder.”
Kay suggested fitness might be an issue, something Borthwick referred to after their Springboks loss, or that, at the very least, England have been going too hard in the opening quarter.
“I think England have punched themselves out in the first three games. If you look at where their performance peaks have been, it’s been the first 20 minutes,” he said.
“Against New Zealand and Australia they dominated the carry, but it’s all one-off runners, rather than any deception. Against South Africa, one-off runners running into brick walls, and that just fatigues the forward pack.”
Kay was particularly critical of their display against South Africa having seen them do the same thing through the 80 minutes without success.
“You have to wonder whether, against South Africa, the one-off runners into one of the biggest defensive areas in world rugby there’s ever been – that area with the likes of Eben Etzebeth, Pieter-Steph du Toit, all those guys – that can’t have been the game plan going into the game,” he said.
“So where’s that issue coming from? That it’s not been coached well? Is it the players are just freezing a little bit, or was that indeed the game plan? If it was the game plan, it’s unbelievable.”
Other key weakness
The former England forward also saw another area of their game which needs a vast improvement if they are to have a positive Six Nations.
“The other thing is the deception in the forward carrying. It gives you those two or three extra metres, but you do it without the physical toll on the forwards’ bodies,” Kay added.
“I think the attacking game will flow off the back of that – you give them a bit of front-foot ball with a bit of flow and rhythm, and this backline will suddenly click into gear.
“Marcus Smith will have more time to do what he’s been so good at, but it has to be less attritional. There are times when you have to be attritional, but there are also times when you have to manage that so that defenders are like ‘what are they going to do’.
“At the moment, I think all defences know what the England forwards are going to do.”
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/england-great-calls-on-steve-borthwick-to-ditch-the-blitz-after-dreadful-autumn-nations-series
