England’s replacements more Suicide than Bomb Squad

London — While SA’s “Bomb Squad” has become a key factor in their recent success, England’s replacements are starting to look more like a “Suicide Squad” as Steve Borthwick’s changes repeatedly help his team snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Last Saturday’s 24-22 home defeat by New Zealand at Twickenham was just the latest occasion when England let a late lead slip after emptying their bench and then seemingly going into their shells and hoping to “see out” a match.

SA scored 10 tries and conceded one in the final 20 minutes of their Rugby Championship matches this year but England’s statistics show the opposite pattern, going back to the ultimate “caught in the headlights” moment in the 2023 World Cup semifinal.

On Saturday England scored their last points on the hour to open a 22-14 advantage but lost. In Auckland it was the 49th minute to lead 17-13 before losing 24-17, while the week before in Dunedin England’s last score came after 47 minutes to open a 15-10 advantage that turned into a 16-15 defeat.

Even in the 52-17 win over Japan in June they were outscored 14-7 in the final quarter.

England lost the final game of the Six Nations 33-31 to France despite grabbing a 31-30 lead with five minutes to go and, of course, in the World Cup semifinal they failed to add to their 15-6 lead after 56 minutes and were pegged back as the Springboks triumphed 16-15.

Borthwick of course can point to a few occasions when it went the other way, finishing strongly to beat Wales and most notably when Marcus Smith’s drop goal at the death downed Ireland by a point, but even in that game their previous score came after an hour and Ireland had forged ahead.

Kept attacking

Borthwick and captain Jamie George spoke before Saturday’s game about learning the lessons from the two July defeats, when they recognised they had “stopped playing”, yet having done almost exactly the same thing on Saturday, they still somehow seemed to feel they had progressed.

“We kept attacking, that’s the thing we made sure we focused on, and learnt from New Zealand in the summer,” George said.

The defeat led to widespread questions about Borthwick’s seemingly preordained replacements policy.

With the scrum doing well — in contrast to the July tests — he changed the entire front row after 52 minutes. Smith had kicked all his penalties and was running things, only to be replaced after 62 minutes by a ring-rusty George Ford, while scrumhalf Ben Spencer was also replaced by Harry Randall.

In the baldest of terms, England’s scrum then struggled, Ford missed a tackle for New Zealand’s match-winning try, then hit the post with a penalty and sent a last-kick drop goal wide after a suboptimal pass by Randall.

England’s 2003 World Cup-winning coach Clive Woodward described the changes as “absolute madness”.

“Taking off Spencer and Smith was a daft decision. The same applies to the front row, because New Zealand’s replacement props got on top,” he said.

“Coaching is about feel. If the key to winning Test matches was replacing certain players at certain times, then anyone would be able to do it. International coaching cannot be — and will never be — about premeditated replacements.”

Former England flyhalf Stuart Barnes said taking Smith off was “a grave error” and Matt Dawson, the scrumhalf who played all 120 minutes of the 2003 final, had the same view.

“Spencer and Smith had managed the game really well. There were threats everywhere and they were playing a great style of rugby,” he said, despite England’s only try coming via an 80m interception.

“The game was nowhere near won … I just think it took out the momentum.”

England are back at Twickenham on Saturday to face an ailing Australia, before taking on SA and Japan, and Borthwick’s bench tactics will be under intense scrutiny.

Reuters