England can’t win, but they have at least become entertaining

Ben Earl walks off the pitch after England's defeat to South Africa
England need to show more mongrel if they are to stop the rot - PA/Mike Egerton

Well, it was another grand day out at Twickenham. And another close defeat. This time against the best team in the world. Not that that will be any consolation to England’s players. They do not care about a great day out for the fans (well, not primarily). They want a win. They will be hurting. Five straight defeats – the last three at Twickenham – does not make for pretty reading.

But you cannot say Steve Borthwick’s team are not giving us great entertainment. They haven’t always. I look forward to coming to Twickenham at the moment. I haven’t always.

Of course I’m disappointed. I guess I had more belief in what we had going into the autumn. I expected three wins from the last three weeks. But I can’t be too disappointed by that defeat.

I was angry after New Zealand. I had to delete my first social media post because I was too angry. After Australia I was apoplectic about our blitz. This time we just got beaten by a better team.

RG Snyman in the first half? Off the charts. Eben Etzebeth’s athleticism? Extraordinary. Pieter-Steph du Toit? How is he not being talked about as one of the greatest players of all time?

Pieter-Steph du Toit charges down Marcus Smith's clearance kick before going on to gather the loose ball to score his team's second try
Pieter-Steph du Toit charged down Marcus Smith’s clearance kick before going on to gather the loose ball to score his team’s second try - Getty Images/Warren Little

You see all these lists of greatest XVs of all time? He gets into the back row of any team that has ever played. Kwagga Smith off the bench? Insane.

So England cannot beat themselves up too much. They are an okay team. Defensively suspect. The blitz is an issue. But they opened up South Africa a few times and gave them a game for 70 minutes.

England can certainly have no complaints about the refereeing. I actually thought we got the rub of the green.

The last 15-20 minutes, the Boks were not their usual ruthless selves. They gave us opportunities. But once our power start – which we’re quite good at – petered out, it revealed we’re neither strong enough to go through, nor cunning enough to pick a pocket. Unless Marcus Smith pulls a rabbit out of the hat, the truth is the collective strength of our back line is not enough. It is one you would be comfortable marking.

We carried hard but we were predictable. Marcus is our X-factor but they have players like Kurt-Lee Arendse and Cheslin Kolbe. No slight on Ollie Sleightholme and Tommy Freeman, but those two are electric.

Cheslin Kolbe evades the tackle of Ollie Sleightholme
Cheslin Kolbe (right) was too hot to handle for England’s defence - Getty Images/Mike Hewitt

I thought Arendse scored a perfectly good try myself. I didn’t think it was forward. But either way, it did not disguise the fact that our blitz didn’t work again.

Why blitz off fast ball? The square press with a disconnect between the last man and the penultimate man is where we keep getting caught. That and silly missed tackles.

Funnily enough, what really bothered me in that game was not the fact that we gifted them tries – although that did bother me – it was the fact we were just too nice.

I was never a nasty player. And I’m not talking about decapitating people here. And maybe I’m getting misty-eyed in my old age. But England are just a nice team. They’ll probably hate that accusation more than anything. But they’re a really nice bunch of lads. I like watching this team. Our captain’s nice. Jamie George had five chats with the referee in the first 17 minutes, about every decision. There was permanent discourse. Nice teams get beaten by small margins time and again.

I get frustrated how they concede 5s and 7s too easily. Today wasn’t necessarily to do with the blitz. It’s an easy cross-kick for Kolbe, a dogleg for Grant Williams’ try, a double charge down. I feel each time like we work really hard for our points.

We had a bit of mongrel about us in the first half at least. The attitude was good. We were desperate and it showed.

Did Borthwick get his selections right? I don’t really think this game was about selections. If we’d have played like that, I would have backed George Furbank to do well. The changes had to happen, I get it. It was more about mongrel.

Freddie Steward was actually stepped twice anyway. Jack van Poortvliet was charged down twice as well as doing some things well.

It was a curate’s egg of a performance – like England’s autumn.

Jack van Poortvliet is hounded by Eben Etzebeth
Jack van Poortvliet was hounded by Eben Etzebeth - Action Images/Peter Cziborra

We saw glimpses but it wasn’t enough. And even then there was an element of ‘Why does it take our backs to be against the wall to really bring out the best in us?’

Again, you have to give South Africa credit. They were in a position where they could change 12 and come to Twickenham and still get a result. They could pick Manie Libbok and watch him send over an inch-perfect, cross-field kick with his wrong foot to Kolbe. They could afford to bring Handre Pollard on, who naturally made an immediate impact, nailing a penalty from the halfway line off the crossbar.

They could afford to play Williams and watch him carve through our forwards and step Steward like a static goalkeeper for his try (I actually didn’t blame Steward for that, Williams is 10-and-a-half stone and running at pace, whereas Steward was coming in on an angle).

They were just too good. England are not at their level, but at least we are fun to watch again.