England are producing athletes not rugby players

I was at the Aviva Stadium to watch England’s narrow defeat by Ireland but I departed frustrated. I was with some business leaders and they were all talking about English bravery. England were in control at half-time and their performance – led by the back row – was undoubtedly brave. But that is not enough at Test level.

Ireland proved – following the example set by the southern-hemisphere giants and, to a certain extent, France – that rugby players will always triumph over athletes. In England, we build athletes. The others build rugby players who turn into athletes. This match in Dublin was a microcosm of the current state of English rugby. We extol the virtues of the Premiership – although, admittedly, Steve Borthwick broke rank on that somewhat recently – and the under-20s and we think that’s good enough.

There is great spirit in this team, full of bench-pressers, and we have some phenomenal athletes. But the likes of Caelan Doris, Josh van der Flier and Tadhg Beirne are proper rugby players, who know what to do and when, with feel and instinct. They’re strong, athletic guys, too. They are World XV contenders.

There are few in England’s starting team who could be directly criticised but barely any are in the World XV conversation. The game came down to fine margins. Look at what happened with Cadan Murley’s finger, with the wing forced to run the ball back out from behind his own try-line (by the way, my dad was sacked as England coach in 1985 for a similar incident involving full-back Marcus Rose). Dan Sheehan, too, the Irish hooker off the bench. What a difference he made for a guy who has barely played since the summer. We’d pay a football transfer fee to have him at hooker.

This team are the sweet boy at university, the mate of the best-looking one in the group. People like you but they don’t want to go out with you. Will Stuart and Henry Slade – great lads who are doing everything but they are not set up for success. I have said before that it is a 30-year thing, failing to build off the back of the World Cup success. We create athletes not rugby players and the chickens are coming home to roost.

Under pressure in Tests, only rugby players win big games. Right now, England can’t play Tiger Woods’ chip on the 16th at Augusta that meanders on to the green and down the hole; we would not be inventing the panenka or the doosra. We are straight-up hard-workers; difficult to dislike but continuing from last year, with England struggling against the best sides.

England, to me, are a nice team; a good team to watch. They are courageous and, chatting to Irish fans here, actually likeable. When could we have ever written that about an English team? They embody Borthwick. I like them and I find it really difficult to be down about them. I was proud of the first-half performance, and securing the bonus point late on. I have not said this often but this is an England team in which I’d have liked to have played. I want to be around them. But they are yeomen not showmen; there was a tidal wave of green shirts and blokes in white were throwing themselves at them time and again. Ultimately, however, Test rugby is about winning. It was a shame that the first-half physicality dropped off a touch.

I actually won a lot of money in Dublin – especially with Tommy Freeman’s late try – as I had England at plus six in the handicap betting market. Next week, any sane rugby player or pundit has to predict a France victory, with what we’ve seen so far this weekend. But that tells us where we are as England fans. That said, Tom Willis has to start at No 8. As a northerner myself I’ll back the northern lads to continue at flanker and have Ben Earl as the super sub off the bench. In Willis, I think we have a Doris.

From the start, for England, I always felt that the success of this tournament hinged on the Scotland game. That is still the case. I am disappointed with losing in Dublin, of course, but I can understand it. It will likely be a similar story next week where, as long as it is not a disaster, I will be able at least to explain us losing against a fearsome France team. I’ve not got ahead of myself. But it is all about the Calcutta Cup. If England win that – with Italy and Wales to follow – then that will change the whole narrative around them. Next week against France is almost another free hit, as no one will expect England to win. Currently, England rarely beat teams ranked higher than them.