After an autumn in which progress seemed to stall, which areas do England need to focus most attention on before the Six Nations?
Borthwick served under his predecessor Eddie Jones with Japan and England before winning the Premiership as head coach of Leicester and then taking the national team top jobFive wins from 12 Tests. Five unanswered defeats against Rugby Championship sides. A world ranking that has slipped from fifth to seventh over the course of 12 months.
For much of their France 2023 campaign, the message from England’s camp was to focus on their results. As a string of scrappy displays pushed them though the weaker side of the draw, past Samoa, Japan and Fiji, staff stressed that victory was everything.But too often this year, the opposite has been true. England have been emphasising performance positives beneath a negative scoreboard.
"England have not been in that position in recent times and genuine progression is knocking on the door for silverware." Even Japan, well off the world's elite currently, scored two, unlocking an apparently well-set England defence with alarming ease. Are these just inevitable teething problems as it beds in? Or is it fundamentally unsuited to England's players and the amount of time they spend together?Joe El-Abd is the man tasked with finding answers to those questions.
"Joe El-Abd's appointment was left field and his team is not doing that well in the second division of France,"Grayson believes the situation is in part of England's making, with change the only constant in the coaching set-up, two years on from Borthwick replacing Eddie Jones.
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