The most impressive analysis of England’s fluctuating July fortunes, as is so often the case nowadays, came from their fly-half Fin Smith. Where others choose to obfuscate, deflect or shoot the messenger, the admirably clear‑eyed Smith prefers to tell it as it is. And at the end of a long, draining season, his view is that England are still frustratingly short of where they need to be.
Yes, they beat Argentina 31‑24 on Saturday in a turbulent game containing eight tries and the tightest of finishes. It means they have claimed back-to-back Test wins for the first time since November and, in Manny Feyi-Waboso, they have a genuine world-beater. Equally, though, there can be no ignoring the bright yellow elephant in the dressing room. Four more yellow cards has taken England’s tally to 14 in 10 games this year, a habit they still seem unable to break.
After the match the head coach, Steve Borthwick, sought to criticise “the negativity committee” of travelling media when the subject inevitably cropped up. Smith, to his credit, was much more upfront. He gave England only a modest seven out of 10, reflective of the fact England ended up millimetres away from blowing a 19-3 half-time lead. In his opinion, too, England fans should expect more than five defeats in eight Tests this calendar year, regardless of results in the past fortnight.
Those who insist England are held to unfairly high standards of public expectation were also politely put straight. “I think it comes with being an England rugby player. The Rugby Football Union is a massive organisation and Twickenham is full every week. People just want to see us win, which I think is fair. There’s no reason we shouldn’t be a powerhouse in international rugby and there’s no reason we shouldn’t be winning every week.”
How refreshing to hear that particular nettle being grasped. Because, ultimately, what has been the abiding memory of the 26,000‑mile trek this month across three continents, aside from the various airport terminals and Liverpool train hell? Without doubt it was the start and finish of their defeat against South Africa at Ellis Park where they lost 45-21. Bouncing back against the lower-ranked sides Fiji and Argentina may have bolstered Borthwick’s immediate employment prospects but his side’s calling card remains their reliable inconsistency.
Smith, for one, has had enough of it. “Yeah, it is frustrating because I think we’re a very good team with 15 men on the pitch. I think back to the last five or six games I’ve played for England, I reckon I’ve spent at least 25-30% of the game without that. That is frustrating because I don’t think we’re allowing ourselves to show the best of us. There’s probably a bit of personal responsibility to not keep doing stuff that gets you pinged.”
The good news – welcome back, Steve – is that England are developing a better balanced game and will have even more depth when Maro Itoje, George Furbank, Will Stuart and Fin Baxter return to bolster the matchday squad. George Martin, Ollie Chessum and Joe Heyes have all impressed up front and Henry Slade’s recall has visibly improved the backline fluency. “When we’re at our best we look like a smart team that makes good decisions and we’ve got an awesome forward pack that can beat teams up,” Smith said.
“I think we owe it to ourselves to show that a lot more than we do. We wanted to go to South Africa and win and we didn’t do that. I thought we played well against Fiji and I thought for about 50 minutes this weekend we were good … I might look back in a few weeks and think we were better or worse but at this moment that’s how I feel.”
Bingo. There is an argument that England also wasted an opportunity to give a solitary minute of game time to fringe squad members such as Theo Dan, Greg Fisilau, Max Ojomoh and Arthur Clark but Borthwick’s selections were clearly driven by short-term imperatives rather than longer-term considerations. Happily Noah Caluori, Benhard van Rensburg, George Kloska and Manny Iyogun did make their debuts and rewarded the faith shown in them.
The single biggest plus, though, has to be the return of Feyi-Waboso, who missed the entire Six Nations before breaking his jaw playing for Exeter late in the domestic campaign. While the 23‑year‑old still cannot chew properly – “After games I’m in a lot of pain but it’s worth it” – his ability to break tackles and score special tries gives England a different attacking dimension when they have sufficient players on the pitch. “It started not great in South Africa, really not great at all,” Feyi‑Waboso said. “Then we fixed some things against Fiji and managed to get away with one today. It’s consistency, isn’t it? Obviously we’re trying to find that … not having 15 men on the pitch for the majority of the time is a huge factor.”
A disappointing Argentina could only lament the final seconds of the game on Saturday when a diving Bautista Delguy was fractionally denied in the corner by the never-say-die Slade. The Pumas argued Caluori’s previous high grab of Dulguy’s collar should have yielded a penalty and one last chance while their head coach, Felipe Contepomi, also slammed England for “a lack of respect” as their noisy celebrations next door drowned out his press conference. Given a certain recent football result, however, visiting sympathy was somewhat limited. England now need to recharge fully over the summer and heed Smith’s wise words.
