A trend of flat finishes have been among the easiest threads to tug at over England’s run of losses. Steve Borthwick’s charges are currently on a sequence of seven consecutive defeats against opponents from the Six Nations and The Rugby Championship. Remarkably, in four of those matches, they have failed to score a single point in the final quarter.
Without two late and rather charitable consolation tries in Dublin, which could not distract from how Ireland so conspicuously found another gear when the game was on a knife edge, that statistic would have grown even more grisly.
England have dismissed concerns over their fitness, but that is an obvious place to start any inquest. Then one could question the team’s psychological strength and tactical pliability. But, undeniably, the bench is another vital area for Borthwick to fix.
Ireland coach Simon Easterby acted swiftly and decisively last weekend, introducing both Dan Sheehan and Jack Conan in the 49th minute. Just moments previously, Jack Crowley had taken over from Sam Prendergast.
Borthwick waited a little longer to deploy his reinforcements, even if trading Tom Willis for Ben Earl with 25 minutes remaining was still rather proactive. In truth, Ireland shook off England impressively. Sheehan, Conan and Crowley were all highly influential.
Afterwards, Borthwick spoke of the experience at Easterby’s disposal; an argument that was slightly rich given that England could have picked George Ford. They attempted that, of course, in the autumn fixture against New Zealand.
Ford was meant to guide England through, as the veteran Beauden Barrett had done twice with assured cameos for the All Blacks against England four months previously, but missed a tackle on Mark Tele’a close to the touchline, hit the post with a penalty and sent a drop-goal skewing wide. The latter has proved to be something of a sliding-doors moment.
Rather than enlist Ford, Borthwick brought a bench boasting a combined total of 81 Test caps to the Aviva Stadium. Chandler Cunningham-South was one to show a dash of naivety, tackling an airborne Hugo Keenan to concede a penalty and then finding himself isolated around the ruck in the defensive line. Ireland sent three runners towards him, flooding through to score with a beautiful strike-move. Willis did deliver a positive impact, at least, and has earned a start.
Jamie George’s recall, at the expense of the more dynamic Theo Dan, offers know-how and set-piece solidity. The former skipper, now one of Maro Itoje’s vice-captains, has evidently embarked upon a ‘closing’ role akin to the one that Keven Mealamu assumed for New Zealand. Dane Coles caused havoc from the start, Mealamu arrived to steer the All Blacks home or inflict further punishment.
Elliot Daly swells the collective experience of Saturday’s replacements to a total of 235 caps. The 32-year-old provides positional flexibility, which is vital in a configuration featuring six forwards and just two backs. Earl is an emergency centre, who has been part of contingency plans drilled in training, and Ben Curry will be urged to bring manic energy to the closing stages.
Interestingly, South Africa, who popularised the six-two split with their World Cup-winning ‘Bomb Squad’, tend to hold three backs in reserve when they face France or England. Rassie Erasmus explained in November that this was because of the running volume that backs undergo in kicking battles against those sides. Ollie Sleightholme, who has not played since December 28 because of a tight hamstring, will receive a thorough examination.
Fabien Galthié, the France head coach, is sticking with his own six-two for Saturday. He does have Thomas Ramos, a full-back comfortable at fly-half, and Yoram Moefana, a centre able to moonlight on the wing. Antoine Dupont is another auxiliary fly-half.
Borthwick is mindful of the energy it will require to quell France’s heavies. Uini Atonio and Emmanuel Meafou are huge specimens and in Georges-Henri Colombe, the La Rochelle tighthead prop bound for Toulouse next season, the visitors will have a 142kg (22st 5lbs) behemoth on the bench. Galthié was unequivocal about his own bench on Thursday.
“We feel the most important thing at our level is to always win the power struggle among the forwards,” he said. “That’s why prioritise the freshness and potential of changing six of our eight forwards at set-piece and in the battle up front.”
Theoretically, Ollie Chessum should be able to add line-out nous as another caller. Joe Heyes, also of Leicester Tigers, has been in excellent form for his club. Borthwick has stuck with Harry Randall for the latter’s spark. As the Dublin denouement illustrated, Randall is not the man for a tense exchange of box-kicks, though he is dangerous when scurrying from the base of breakdowns.
England have been in winning positions, or at least right in the fight, in just about every match of this past year as the clock has ticked to the hour mark. Their biggest challenge is hauling themselves over the finish line. In the modern game, where 23 is a far more pertinent number than 15, the bench often holds the key.
As Itoje put it himself: “When you look at rugby today, the match-day starting team has a role they play and need to put the team in a position to win the game. The bench are actually the guys who go out and win it.”
