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I was sitting in the stands as a fan on Sunday for the first time in a long while and it was a totally underwhelming and frankly awful experience.
It was England’s first game since two of our biggest clubs have fallen into administration, something that never should have happened.
While I hoped as always for inspiration, I left with an overwhelming sadness and confusion at where the game is heading in England. It was more than bad day at the office and I had the feeling that few really cared.
Eddie Jones’ England were humbled by Argentina at Twickenham on Sunday, losing 29-30
Argentina stunned the 80,000-strong Twickenham crowd with a deserved victory overall
The RFU kept playing naff music throughout the match and I spent half the afternoon standing up because people were back and forth buying beers. The atmosphere felt artificial and contrived and, to top it off, England’s performance was so bad. Everyone was bored out of their brains.
Losing is part of the game. You are not always going to play brilliantly but there was not a single memorable moment from an England player, nor any sign of innovation, creativity or boldness — it was really poor.
England were too slow. Eddie Jones is picking and coaching a team that just can’t play fast enough and there is no-one at the RFU who is remotely qualified to hold him to account. Argentina brought the intensity and credit to them on a historic victory.
England have now lost five of their last nine Tests in a wildly fluctuating year for Eddie Jones
England slowed the game down at every possible opportunity. They win a penalty, have a nice long chat about it and then walk over for a lineout. Get on with it and play! Tap penalties, snap drop goals and throwing in lineouts to yourself are all simple ways to dictate tempo but seem to be long forgotten.
Ellis Genge and Kyle Sinckler win a penalty at the scrum and the entire back division run over to give them high fives and pats on the back. What on earth is all that about?
Why aren’t the backs getting into position and keeping the option alive to take it quickly. At every opportunity England slowed the game down. You cannot win doing this and, more importantly, the game is unwatchable.
Argentina secured their second away victory over England following on from a 2006 success
At every ruck, Ben Youngs was taking too long to pass the ball away. Those fractions of a second all add up. No team will win a World Cup at that pace. I watched New Zealand on Saturday and they played with so much more tempo. They would have annihilated England on Sunday.
The players aren’t the problem. England’s playing pool is as good as anyone in the world. I could nit-pick about individuals but the fault here lies with the way they are coached and selected.
Too many players are being picked out of position. Maro Itoje is not a flanker and Owen Farrell is not a centre. Those guys are two of the best players in the world but England aren’t maximising their potential.
I was Eddie’s biggest fan when he first came in but now it feels like he’s just trying to prove people wrong. He’s taking on the media, he’s taking on ex-players and it’s caught up with him. Someone needs to sit down with him and say, ‘What was that all about? This is just not acceptable’. Eddie needs to start listening. It’s a huge year for English rugby. He needs to look in the mirror and eat a big slice of humble pie. It’s time to admit that he’s got a lot things badly wrong.
England had led 16-12 at half-time with tries from Joe Cokanasiga and Jack van Poortvliet
Emiliano Boffelli scored 25 points as the visitors ended a sequence of 10 successive defeats
They give away too many soft and unnecessary penalties. Argentina have one of the best goal kickers in the world in Emiliano Boffelli and they were giving him freebies. He was given six chances to kick for three points and converted them all. Who is responsible for that area of the coaching? If players keep giving away penalties then stop picking them, even if it’s Itoje. One of those penalties is going to end up costing the team the World Cup.
Losing to Argentina at Twickenham can happen but accepting the manner of the performance is not.
Eddie got the selection badly wrong and the way England played was even worse.
He needs to leave players on the pitch for 80 minutes. Why take off Genge and Sinckler when they are two of the most important players? The ball had hardly been in play so they weren’t exactly tired.
Captain Owen Farrell (right) was passed fit to play but was unable to impact the performance
Jones and those he supposedly reports to need to wise up and quickly or their legacy will be seen as finishing English rugby. It’s not a case of changing the personnel, it’s a case of changing the way we play.
If England had picked their best players in their best positions then they could have won that game with something to spare.
I think there are four better English scrum-halves currently than Ben Youngs, with Jack van Poortvliet at the top of the list, but the more people praise him the less likely it seems that Eddie will pick him.
Manu Tuilagi’s best position is inside centre so I would like to see him with Farrell and Henry Slade either side of him. Ben Earl is the best openside flanker in the Premiership so I would bring him and play Tom Curry at No 6, rather than persisting with this policy of putting a lock there.
Hopefully Sunday will be a massive wake-up call, otherwise it will be a long autumn.
We play Argentina in a pool game on the opening day of the World Cup and if we lose that our dreams are over.
Manu Tuilagi could be playing inside centre with Farrell and Henry Slade either side of him
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